ABSTRACT
American Indians were reclaiming their cultural heritage and fighting for their rights after centuries of confrontation and exploitation of their land and resources, and decades of pressure to assimilate into American and Canadian society while being treated as second-class citizens. During the 1970s black studies and Indian cultural studies programmes flourished in American colleges and schools. Many artists of minority cultural backgrounds felt marginalised by museums and art galleries which were perceived to represent only the dominant white culture, and failed to provide equality of opportunity to artists of non-European origin. In the United States, the civil disturbances and the cultural revival movement focused attention on the cultural needs of ethnic communities and disadvantaged inner city residents. Since the 1970s, issues of cultural diversity and related matters have featured prominently on the programmes of numerous regional, national and international conferences attesting to the growing professional concern.
