Arts and Cultural Organisations

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for tabling this debate today and pay tribute to his ground-breaking work as a social entrepreneur. I also thank all other noble Lords who have spoken in this debate today. I apologise if I do not, in the short time available, pick up all the points that have been made.

It is a topical and challenging question: to what extent should government subsidise the arts and to what extent should they be expected to stand alone? It is impossible to address this without taking stock of the current arts-funding landscape, as a number of noble Lords have already done today.

First, we have to acknowledge the backdrop to this debate, which is that of course the arts make a substantial economic contribution to this country. They make Britain an attractive place to visit, to live, and to invest in. The noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, made a good point about the delicate ecosystem that underpins this arrangement. It is not just about economic advantage. A whole range of other advantages come from our thriving arts culture, including improvements to the nation’s health and well-being and the provision of a critical impetus for regional economic regeneration around the country.

However, there is a real danger that we are taking this global advantage for granted rather than investing in and nurturing the next generation of creative performers and leaders. Nowhere is that complacency starker than in the sidelining of arts subjects in the national curriculum, which this House has debated on a number of occasions. Those subjects are being systematically dropped by ambitious schools that want to be seen to be performing well and moving up the league tables. As a result, the take-up of GCSEs in subjects like music, art and drama is falling. That is combined with a squeeze on funding for specialist teachers in schools and the failure of alternative initiatives such as the community music hubs to take off in a systematic way.

As a number of noble Lords have already argued, this neglect of the arts in schools is exacerbated by the funding pressures on local community and regional arts centres. Those are the places where young people get their first real taste of watching or participating in live events. They can inspire and thrill, sowing the seeds of a lifelong love of the arts in young people—and in those places we find the risk takers and innovators of the future.

However, local councils are increasingly being forced to prioritise their limited spending on the statutory services for which they are responsible. Therefore, even though many of them understand the importance of the arts as having value in themselves and also playing a role in attracting businesses and visitors, the burden of the 33% cuts takes an inevitable toll on the local cultural life they are able to fund. The Arts Council has repeatedly made the point that it cannot be expected to plug the hole in local government arts expenditure. In any case how could it, when its own grant from central government has faced substantial cuts—reduced by 30% in one year alone?

Sadly, therefore, the picture on the ground of local and regional art centres is of retreat and decline, with many places losing the skills and expertise necessary to find new sources of funding such as new sponsors, grants or earned income. Therefore when the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, challenges us to find new ways to help fund arts organisations, my answer is that he is right to pose the question, but the prerequisite must be a greater recognition across government of the centrality of the arts to our nation’s success, both now and in the future. That cross-government challenge is not being addressed appropriately by the Government at this time. Perhaps the Minister can address that in his response.

What is lacking is a sustainable funding model that has buy-in from all sectors. It should include a statutory provision for national and local government and a new definition of the role of arm’s-length bodies and of the lottery, as well as identifying newer sources of funding, including the role that innovative tax incentives can play. For example, the Government have made great play of the increased role that individuals can play, and undoubtedly more can be done. However, all the evidence so far points to philanthropic giving being focused on the large institutions, with smaller local and regional organisations being squeezed out. We could also do a great deal more to transform the banking sector so that it better understands the role that the cultural sector can play and is prepared to invest in those start-ups.

What is lacking is a cross-departmental plan to look at the sector afresh, realise the many benefits it brings in cash and in kind and underpin it with a realistic financial strategy. The alternative is a route of decline and frustration which will rob our economy of a great opportunity and our young people of a vibrant, creative future. I look forward to the noble Lord’s response to those concerns.