Events • News • Walthamstow

Council rejects claims of ‘systemic racism’ at Walthamstow art gallery

10 August, 2022 12:00 am
2 Min Read

The council began a “full investigation” over two years ago after a former employee complained

William Morris Gallery (credit: ProfDEH/Wikimedia)
William Morris Gallery (credit: ProfDEH/Wikimedia)

A lengthy council investigation into reports of “systemic racism” at a Walthamstow art gallery has concluded by rejecting all allegations.

In June 2020, a black former employee of William Morris Gallery published a since-deleted blog post detailing her experiences working at the gallery in Forest Road, which is owned and run by Waltham Forest Council.

The post described how four years of “petty comments, gaslighting, and other not-so-subtle signs of systemic racism” had had “a significantly negative impact” on her health.

At the time, a gallery spokesperson said they were “saddened by the serious allegations” and had received a formal complaint, which would be “investigated in full”.

After multiple requests for comment went unanswered, the Echo submitted a Freedom of Information request for the results of the investigation.

The council’s information officer responded: “I can confirm that the allegations of racism were not upheld. [Both] this investigation and the appeal were conducted under the Council’s Fairness At Work procedures.”

However, they said it was not possible to share a report of the investigation because “the identity of the former employee is known… [and] the identity of others referred to in the information held would be capable of being disclosed even were their names removed.”

They added: “There is no redaction that the council could apply that would anonymise the information so that is was no longer ‘personal data’ under the Data Protection Act.”

This article does not include the name of the former employee that made the complaint, given her complaint is no longer public.

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