UK Arts and the Government

Joanne · **Posted:** Thu Jul 11, 2002 11:41 pm

A crop of articles on the state of funding of the arts in the UK.

Martin Kettle in The Guardian.

Quote:

Tom Stoppard doesn't normally get political when he gives interviews. With his new Coast of Utopia trilogy now in previews at the National Theatre, the playwright has plenty of professional business on his mind. But when he talked to the New Statesman's Mary Riddell last week, the playwright could no longer contain his indignation about the Labour government's persistently grudging attitude to the arts.
You could trace the current parsimony back to Thatcherism, he acknowledged, "But I can't say Mr Blair has reversed it. They get cross if you say so. Because the Arts Council kitty goes up a bit and the National Theatre gets £12m, the feeling is the arts should think themselves lucky and shut up." It all came back, he said, to a "lack of culture".

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Jude Kelly - also The Guardian.

Quote:

The £25m injected into regional theatre by the Department of Culture and the Arts Council last spring enabled everyone to breathe a little easier. That increase, unprecedented but sorely overdue, was scheduled to enter the system in 2002-3. But before the effects of that extra funding have become apparent we find ourselves faced with the Treasury's triannual Public Spending Review. There has been no indication from the government about what we might expect. Gordon Brown himself has yet to utter a single word defining New Labour's commitment to the arts. Was last year's infusion of cash a genuine act of faith? Or are we about to discover that it was merely a financial prop intended to shore up some crumbling cultural edifices that might better be served with a demolition order?

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And an article in The Times on the first graduates to have benefited from the Government's Dance and Dramatic Arts Scholarships.

Quote:

A cting is not considered a proper career in Middlesbrough — at least not according to Laura Londsdale. “It’s industrial up there,” she says. “Proper jobs are technology, medicine, industry. People like me would not have received funding to study acting from my local education authority.”
Londsdale, 21, who graduates today from the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (Alra) is among the first batch of recipients of the Government’s Dance and Dramatic Arts (Dada) scholarships, which were instigated in 1999 and replaced the arbitrary LEA funding system that, according to Alra’s head, Tony Castro, pretty much depended on whether the person in charge liked music and drama or not.

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I think there is a worry that there is quite a bit of unding going into the training end and a lot of encouragement for young people to train in the arts but without adequate funding at the other end there is going to be even less work opportunities for them when they graduate.

[ 08 May 2004, 05:53 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Tue Oct 15, 2002 1:06 pm

Two more articles about Arts funding in the UK:

Support for arts 'remains high'
from the BBC website

Nine out of 10 people in England have taken part in the arts in the past year, according to the most far-reaching survey of its kind in a decade. And nearly three-quarters of those who responded to a questionnaire on attitudes towards the arts believe they play a valuable role in the life of the country.

Young people aged 16-24 are least likely to share this view, with only 43% of the opinion that the arts make an important contribution to their lives.

But overall support for the arts, albeit through going to the cinema, reading or visiting a museum, remains high, according to the Arts Council of England survey of more than 6,000 people.

click for more

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Artist attacks government policies
from the BBC website

Sculptor Anish Kapoor, whose giant sculpture was unveiled at Tate Modern recently, has criticised
the British government, saying it does not understand culture. Kapoor is one of the UK's most respected artists and his latest work Marsyas is 23 metres (75 feet) wide and 35 metres (115 feet) high and dominates the central hall of the London gallery.

He told the Independent newspaper: "I don't think they get it - that in the deepest, deepest
depths of human history, the cultural has always been a motivator of people."

Kapoor has been lobbying for the arts for many years and sits on the Arts Council of England,
which distributes government and lottery funds to cultural projects.

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[ 10-15-2002, 15:08: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Thu Mar 11, 2004 1:12 am

£15m fund for culture projects
By Terry Grimley, Birmingham Post

Birmingham and other parts of the West Midlands are set to benefit from a new £15 million fund for cultural projects in urban areas.

The fund, jointly administered by the Millennium Commission and Arts Council England, is intended to build on last year's Capital of Culture competition. It will support projects over the next two years, including festivals, events, exhibitions and showcases.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Thu Apr 22, 2004 11:37 pm

NCA and diectors defend arts subsidy against cuts for war
by Sally Bramley for The Stage

Britain's leading theatre figures have joined forces with the National Campaign for the Arts to avert a cut in public subsidy, which they claim might be made to fund the war in Iraq.

The National Directors' Forum, formed under the auspices of the NCA, has already presented a supposition to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Treasury, stating the case for continued arts funding in advance of the government's annual spending review, due to take place in June.

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kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:35 am

Quote:

Setting the stage, again

The Scotland Herald
April 23, 2004

Finally, the curtain came up yesterday on the Scottish Executive's grand plan for funding and directing the arts and culture in this country. Just how does Jack McConnell intend to deliver on his stated ambition, outlined in his St Andrew's Day speech in November last year, of the arts suffusing every aspect of the executive's work to make Scotland a better, more vibrant place?

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kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:36 am

Quote:

Scrutiny of Scots' access to arts

By GERARD SEENAN
The Guardian
April 23, 2004

A "once in a generation" review of the arts, which makes widening access to arts and culture a cornerstone of public policy, was announced by Scotland's culture minister yesterday.

An independent commission headed by James Boyle, chair of the Scottish Arts Council, will spend a year conducting a root-and-branch review of arts funding and provision in Scotland.

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kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:36 am

Quote:

Populist voice for culture?s future

By PHIL MILLER
The Scotland Herald
April 23, 2004

Forthright, imaginative, a proven and highly intelligent manager with a keen populist streak, Mr Boyle has steered the Scottish Arts Council through testing waters.

He was the architect ofthrough testing waters.
He was the architect of an internal overhaul of the SAC and challenger of a standstill budget. The executive has not appointed a yes man.

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kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:36 am

Quote:

Major institutions applaud changes as long overdue

By TIM CORNWELL
The Scotsman
April 23, 2004

THE leaders of Scotland?s major arts institutions have lined up to praise the Executive?s cultural rethink as long overdue, and yesterday rallied behind the man to lead it.

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kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:45 am

Quote:

Don't stint the arts

By RUARIDH NICOL
The Observer
April 25, 2004

Two phrases stay with me, the first being that commission should seek to 'maximise existing resources more carefully'; the other was the repeated use of 'cultural rights'.

...

I suppose a cultural right is the right of every child to grow up and know that there is more to life than Jack Vettriano posters (or originals, if you grow up to own Rangers).

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kurinuku · **Posted:** Sun Apr 25, 2004 10:13 am

Quote:

Executive v Scottish Arts Council - it's time for a truce in Scotland's culture wars

By MAGNUS LINKLATER
The Scotland on Sunday
April 25, 2004

TRYING to read between the lines of a ministerial statement can drive you mad. What signal is being sent out? Is it good news or bad? Are we meant to break out the champagne or reach for a revolver? We need someone to read the runes.

Frank McAveety’s announcement last week about the future of culture in Scotland was a case in point.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Sat May 08, 2004 3:54 am

Boris Johnson gets frontbench job
From the BBC website

Boris Johnson has been given a job on Michael Howard's frontbench as shadow minister for the arts in a mini-reshuffle.
The Henley MP's appointment follows the resignation of home affairs spokesman Nick Hawkins, whose local Surrey Heath Tory association deselected him.

Mr Johnson was already one of several Tory vice-chairmen. He now gets to make his debut at the Commons despatch box.

The Spectator magazine editor is seen as a colourful character in Parliament.

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Stuart adds: Yes, in case you were wondering, "colurful" does mean amiable buffoon.

[ 08 May 2004, 05:54 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2004 10:56 pm

Brown warns national security greater priority than arts
by Ruth Gillespie for The Stage

Chancellor Gordon Brown has warned the arts industry that defending the British public against terrorism will be his priority

in the forthcoming spending review.

Speaking at the British Council's annual lecture at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Brown said he was

prepared to spend whatever was necessary on security to safeguard the British people.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:29 pm

Morris to quit as arts minister at next election
From The Stage

Estelle Morris, the arts minister, has announced she will leave Parliament at the next election.

Morris was appointed last summer, admitting at the time that she had a lot to learn about the sector.

click for more

[ 16 September 2004, 01:39 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:38 pm

I was disappointed to read of Estelle Morris's decision to quit Parliament. She has a disarming frankness and she resigned as Minister for Health, saying that she did not feel up to the job.

When she took over the arts portfolio, she admitted she knew little about her new brief, but then set about learning as much as she could about the arts and the current issues facing the arts.

Fingers crossed that we get a good candidate for this crucial role after the next election.

[ 16 September 2004, 01:41 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

kurinuku · **Posted:** Mon Jan 16, 2006 3:23 am

Quote:

Ministers fight to put arts at heart of nation
by RUARIDH NICOLL for the Observer

The arm's length principle, where arts bodies are funded without interference, is apparently to be maintained, although there will be major changes to the arm's length body, the Scottish Arts Council. Ferguson looks set to begin by outlining a legal duty for local government to ensure all children are exposed to some culture. There will be more money, although it will still be some way short of the 1 per cent of the Executive's annual budget that Boyle wanted. This is where McConnell is reported to have been forced to use the weight of his office to bang heads together.

published: January 15, 2006

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