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As a mixed-race child, her parents encouraged her to gain knowledge of and exposure to both Chinese and British cultures and histories.

Museum and gallery visits were a key part of this early education.

These experiences led Vanessa to take an A-level in history of art, where she became disenchanted by the emphasis on European arts.

Because of this narrowness, she decided to go on to the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Vanessa, 22, said: “While there, I became increasingly aware of the Euro-centric presentation that many of our museums observe and that inspired me to work in museums.

Better mix

“I want to provide a different perspective on how objects can be interpreted and displayed.”

Ms Mitchell’s story highlights the dilemma facing museums and galleries - the need to represent the ethnic mix of their communities, while having an dating ethnic site white workforce.

Furthermore, museums are failing to take advantage of the skills and talents of a significant part of the population.

According to a survey, ethnic minorities accounted for only 4% of the total employees in museums and galleries, compared with more than 7% of employees in the UK overall.

Fewer than 2% of people working on the care and interpretation of collections were from ethnic minorities.

The Museums Association says it wants to change this, through a scheme it calls Diversify.

It is recruiting people like Ms Mitchell and sponsoring them on postgraduate programmes in museum studies at universities across the country.

The project, which began in 1998, runs activities to attract more black and Asian people to apply for mid- and senior-level jobs.

Currently, it is dating free internet online service on bursaries and dating ethnic to prepare people for employment in museums and galleries.

“We work with universities to offer bursaries to students to take one-year postgraduate courses in museum studies,” said Lee Fulton, the project leader.

Favouritism?

“We also work with museums to offer fixed traineeships.”

With only nine dating ethnic site to date, some critics say the project is another example of tokenism towards minority groups.

Others accuse the association of favouritism.

Are British museums too European-centred?

However, those involved in the project dismiss these charges and bemoan the lack of adequate funding.

“Diversify is based on the principle of positive action and not positive discrimination,” said Ms Fulton.

“This is definitely not another tokenism. Diversify aims to take steps to help people from under-represented minorities compete on an equal basis for jobs.”

Ms Fulton said the association was not attempting to provide a quick fix or offering just a few opportunities for ethnic minorities.

Fair chance

The course tutors feel the selection processes are as rigorous as possible.

“Our selection criteria were that the candidate showed the potential and ambition to be a leader in the museum sector in the future,” said Alix Slate, the programme director at London’s Greenwich University.

“If we had not found a suitable candidate, we wouldn’t have awarded the bursary. The candidates face a tough interview to enter the programme. They were not given undue advantage.”

The efforts to get minority graduates into a museum career have started to pay off.

Hannah Phung, 23, graduated last year with a 2.1 in classical and archaeological studies from the University of Kent.

‘Just go for it’

Thanks to Diversify, she is now the assistant curator at the Grange Museum of Community History, London, while studying for an MA in museum studies at University College London.

She advises young black and Asian youths not to allow the image of a white, middle-class dominated museum workforce dissuade them from seeking careers in the sector.

“Museums and galleries are not for certain people,” she said.

“But if you avoid them, then no amount of outreach work, reports or talk will change anything.

“If working in museum and gallery is what you want to do and enjoy, just go for it.

“Make sure that you have the right qualifications and experience, as anyone who wants to work in this field should, because it is competitive.

“If black and Asian people shy away from museum work because they feel it is not for them, then things are not going to change.”