Top arts school forced to apologise for cancelling feminist artist

Britain’s top arts school has been forced to pay thousands of pounds to a gender-critical charity and apologise after a feminist artist was cancelled.

Claudia Clare, 61, had been booked for two years to display her ceramics project about women escaping the sex trade in April last year at Ceramic Art London, the UK’s staple ceramics show.

The event was organised by the Craft Potters Association (CPA) alongside Central Saint Martins (CSM), a world-leading 170-year-old college at University of the Arts London (UAL), which counts the fashion designer Alexander McQueen among its alumni.

But weeks beforehand, Ms Clare was told by the CPA’s director Toby Brundin that her talk was no longer welcome because of the risk of protest that “might put the show itself under threat” – prompting her to launch legal action.

Now, both UAL and the CPA have agreed to settle her employment tribunal claim and apologise for the row, with no admission of liability.

As part of the settlement, binded by Acas this week, both organisations have agreed to donate £10,000 to women@thewell, a sex-based rights charity that supports women affected by prostitution and runs a drop-in centre. The college is donating £6,500 and paying her legal fees, while the trade body is giving £3,500.

Source: Top arts school forced to apologise for cancelling feminist artist

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