Ed Vaizey responds to British East Asian Artists open letter

Some of you may have seen yesterday an open letter from British East Asian Artists (BEAA) to the Minister For Culture, Ed Vaizey. The letter was in response to Mr. Vaizeys recent roundtable discussions with leading black actors and industry heads about the lack of opportunities for Black & Asian actors in the UK. We wrote because its simply too easy for us, the third minority, to be overlooked and ignored. Today we received this from Mr. Vaizeys office Excellent points thank you. Will include you in my thinking and invite you to my next round table Harriet Harman, the Labour Shadow Culture Secretary is also keen to meet with us. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who shared, tweeted and supported the open letter yesterday. When more of us speak up we are a powerful voice. Lets not think of ourselves as the smallest ethnic group. Lets think of ourselves as the third largest and fastest growing.

Its extremely heartening to see more and more of us moving away from that silent model minority stereotype which will only ever renders us irrelevant and invisible. If you want to be heard In modern Britain, you have to (in the immortal words of the Beastie Boys), fight for your right to party. Lets continue doing so.