The Foundation is proud to announce the launch of the Naz Legacy Diversity Programme. This initiative aims to provide more opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds living in some of the most deprived areas in the country to visit galleries, museums and theatres for the first time. Naz’s own children know just how important this was to him. Often weekends and school holidays were spent going to exhibitions and visiting stately homes. He enriched their learning and education with culture and arts which was an alien concept to most ethnic minorities at that time. Learning in this way, broadened their understanding of the world and it is this that the Foundation wants to promote.
Despite a rise in numbers of visitors to Museums and Galleries there hasn’t been a significant impact on visitors from ‘socially excluded’ communities. A Mori study in 2000 found that people with a degree are almost four times as likely to visit a gallery as those with no formal qualification. This is why The National Portrait Gallery (The Gallery) in collaboration with The Foundation are launching the Programme. At the launch four schools will have the special opportunity to visit The Gallery and encounter diverse stories, including that of Ayuba Sulieman Diallo, a famous Muslim who became a victim of the Atlantic slave trade, only to be freed later in England. The Foundation will highlight and promote The Gallery’s work with diverse audiences includes various community programmes, internships and apprenticeships, and a three-year project working with NEET (not in education, employment or training) young people to encourage them to visit the Gallery for the first time.
The Diversity Programme is being supported by National Portrait Gallery, Time Educational Supplement, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and HRH The Prince of Wales’ Mosaic.
