KEN LIVINGSTONE’S £350,000 scheme to encourage diverse audiences to have their first taste of London’s West End has proved a flop. It has emerged that white middle-class theatregoers took nearly all the subsidised tickets.

A report by the culture committee of the London Assembly shows that only 2 per cent of people benefiting had never been to the theatre. Nearly half said they went to the theatre at least once a month.

Ethnic minorities were largely oblivious of the scheme, which attracted only 16 per cent non-white audiences. Less than 2 per cent of purchasers were black, 5 per cent were Chinese and 7 per cent were other Asian.

Evidence also emerged that ethnic minorities failed to pick up on the scheme even at venues with a reputation for attracting diverse audiences. The Hackney Empire said that the take-up on the scheme for its show Jamaica, the Musical was just 9 per cent. “What has tended to happen is that the discounted tickets are bought by people who already go to the theatre,” a spokeswoman said. “It seems that the wrong marketing scheme was used. If they wanted to open up the theatre to ethnic minorities, they should have marketed it to specialist newspapers first.”

Meg Hillier, chairman of the London Assembly’s culture committee, said that the Mayor’s second scheme, after his £250,000 ticket subsidy programme last year, was far from the “runaway success” he had claimed it to be. “For the last two years the theatre tickets promotion has been marked by woolly objectives, an absence of rigorous evaluation and questionable claims of success,” she said. “It risks becoming a ‘feel good’ event which subsidises existing theatregoers without contributing substantially to generating new audiences or supporting culture in other parts of London.”

Nigel Pittman, of Arts Council England, said that the range of shows under the initiative was “much too narrow”.

Mr Livingstone dismissed the criticism. “Knocking London, as the Assembly culture committee seems to do on a weekly basis, might help them get a bit of cheap publicity, but it does our city no good at all,” he said. The producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh supported the scheme, saying audiences were more diverse than ever.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• An officer and a gentle woman
• Dame Helen Mirren is worthy of the Epidaurus
• Foods that can help to prevent swine flu