Art gallery criticised for discrimination against whites

A civil liberties campaign group is challenging an art gallery's decision to ban white people from applying for a job as a curator's assistant.

Gerald Hartup, director of Liberty and Law, has written to Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, urging him to ask the Arnolfini arts centre in Bristol to freeze recruitment.

It was revealed last week that the Arnolfini had advertised the £19,000 to £21,000-a-year position but applications were only to be accepted from those of African, Asian or Caribbean origin.

The successful candidate will help organise an exhibition on the Blaxploitation movement, a genre of Afro-American film which emerged in the 60s and 70s as race riots broke out in cities across the US.

The gallery, one of Europe's leading centres for contemporary art, claims it is allowed to use a colour bar to make available special training facilities to under-represented minorities.