Government Support for Artists

Lord Berkeley of Knighton Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Clancarty for focusing our attention on artists. I was pleased to hear my noble friend Lord Falkland mention education, because that is the most important aspect of what I want to say—indeed, of what many of us have to say—but I must take him to task for just one moment for flying a very dangerous balloon. That is the idea that better art comes from poverty. Try telling that to a composer friend of mine who lives in a basement flat in Balham and cannot currently pay the heating bill.

There is a problem at the grass-roots level. There is a crisis affecting composers in particular. As the Government know, the Arts Council has had its budget slashed by £83 million. This has fed into the commissions to composers being cut. The Arts Council principle that individual artists should be financed through its clients is breaking down. Cash to festivals and for innovative programmers to commission is ceasing. The noble Lord, Lord Patten, will be pleased to hear that I am not talking about the Royal Opera House or the Royal Shakespeare Company. I am talking about grass-roots level. These are the artists and the provincial theatre productions that feed into regions and schools. At that level, artists are working on an incredibly tiny budget.

As a result of the Arts Council budget being cut, the BBC has become even more important to composers, for it is giving almost more commissions than any other body. I must declare an interest here. In 2013, some 35 works were commissioned. Before the BBC is slashed, the charter reviewed and the licence fee cut, bear in mind that it is part of the cultural infrastructure.

The composer in Balham whom I mentioned earns about £1,200 for three to four months’ work, if he gets a commission. You try getting a plumber, an electrician or a carpenter, let alone a doctor or a lawyer, for that amount. It really is scraping the bottom of the barrel and yet, as the Government are generous enough to accept, songwriters and composers bring to the national economy some £1.7 billion GVA. People may think that does not come from classical composers, but many musicals and pop musicians rely on classical players—think of George Martin and the Beatles—to bring about what they produce. I worked with Kate Bush on her “Hounds of Love” album, an album that brought millions into the Exchequer. She had the idea—I must not take that away from her—but she did not know how to write it down and to get it off the page with professional musicians. I was very happy and honoured to do that for her.

This is where education comes in. We often say, “How can we give more money to the arts when funding for education and the NHS has been cut?”. My answer is that art feeds in to the well-being of society. Young children who can express themselves through music and art become better citizens. In the National Health Service, we know that using the ability to paint and to express oneself through the use of music therapy works.

Let us think back, finally, to the Olympics and how marvellous and successful our athletes were. It was because we cherished talent. That is what we need to do for the arts—cherish talent.