95: “…art school is a stereotypically white middle class space…”

We have more and more black and ethnic minority students coming through into the Fine Art course I teach on– fantastic. But we struggle to hold on to them. Many are holding down other jobs, which naturally put stress on the time they have in the studio. I think it might also be to do with feeling included; art school is a stereotypically white middle class space so I need to find a way of opening that up in the year group. Crits are a good place to start but many white students wont speak in these discussions for fear of getting it wrong and appearing racist or speaking on behalf of the black students. Fear holds everyone back.