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ARTISTIC PROGRAMME – CULTURAL DIVERSITY ADVISORY GROUP (CDAG)

The Manchester Cultural Partnership established the Cultural Diversity Advisory Group (CDAG) in February 2003 as a new project aimed at raising the profile and developing the capacity of the Black and Minority Ethnic voluntary arts and cultural sector within the city of Manchester.

Operating across all 32 wards, the project engaged a wide variety of communities, arts professionals, independent and mainstream cultural venues and service providers in addressing issues of access, participation and professional development for groups and individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds.

The principal focus of CDAG was to develop constructive responses to a number of identified barriers to the progression of the sector. As such, CDAG concerned itself with increasing the visibility of BME arts activity, empowering access to training and funding development and generating opportunities for communities and individuals to participate in diverse arts and cultural activity.

The CDAG membership primarily included representation from the voluntary arts sector, a range of ethnic communities, artists and voluntary sector groups and key agencies involved in issues of race and equality. Membership comprised of organisations and individuals based and operating within the city of Manchester:

Community Arts North West, Manchester City Council Cultural Strategy Team, Contact Theatre, Manchester Council for Community relations (MCCR), BOLT (Bringing our Lives Together), Urban Voice, Black Arts Alliance, Manchester Youth Arts, Progress Trust, Let's Celebrate, Manchester Leisure, Arts Council England, North West.

CDAG developed a number of projects including the Diversity Exchange Network (dxn)- an information resource supporting the development of the voluntary BME arts and cultural sector.

dxn - the magazine was a free arts & cultural publication produced by the diversity exchange network. dxn aimed to make the arts and cultural experiences generated by culturally diverse citizens an integral part of Manchester’s rich artistic and creative landscape.

Copyright © 2003 Community Arts North West. All rights reserved