An inquiry to improve working class representation in the creative industries across Greater Manchester aims to deliver a 'blueprint for change'
The former Chief Prosecutor for North West England, Nazir Afzal OBE, is to lead an inquiry to improve working class representation in the creative industries across Greater Manchester.
Aiming to deliver a place-based solution to address a marked national decline in working class representation in the creative industries, Afzal will be working alongside Avis Gilmore, former Deputy General Secretary of one of Europe’s biggest trade unions, to deliver a ‘blueprint for change’.
Social research consultancy RISE will support the campaign, carrying out extensive engagement with artists and creatives across the region.
As Chair of the Lowry, Chancellor of the University of Manchester and a board director of The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, Afzal aims to bring together many of the leading cultural stakeholders in the region to identify ways to break what he calls the ‘class ceiling’. A symposium will be held on 26 January 2026 to determine the solutions.
Nazir Afzal OBE says: “There is a wealth of research showing that working class representation in UK creative industries is at its lowest level in decades and many leading artists have warned that the class ceiling is holding back innovation and creativity,”
“Given that around half of the UK identify as working class, that is a huge amount of talent being shut out. For a city like Manchester, whose culture has largely been shaped by the working class, this poses an existential threat,” “But Manchester is really good at rising to a challenge and in the coming months we will be looking to better understand the barriers to participation and talking to key partners to identify local solutions that can smash the class ceiling and level the playing field.”
The inquiry comes after a number of high-profile artists across the region have highlighted how the creative sector increasingly fails to support artists from working class backgrounds.
“If you grow up in the north-west, you don’t feel culture and the arts belong to you,” Salford born actor Christopher Ecclestone told the Guardian newspaper. “You don’t believe if you come from a council estate you can be an actor, a poet or a painter.”
With Manchester now recognised as one of Europe’s most creative cities, this initiative is now more important than ever.
“Over the last 20-years we’ve seen the infrastructure that supported an explosion of working-class talent in Manchester wither away. You have to ask the question, could there be another Liam Gallagher or Caroline Aherne today?” asks Class Ceiling Inquiry co-chair Avis Gilmore.
To be involved in the discussion and take part in a short 5-10 minute survey, head to bigconversation.co.uk/class-ceiling.
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