Protect arts cash or risk our economic recovery, say cultural leaders

Support: actor Sam West and poet Sir Andrew Motion at the launch today
12 April 2012

Arts and cultural leaders today issued a warning that Britain's economic strength could be "shattered" if funding to the sector is cut.

The Tate's Sir Nicholas Serota, the British Museum's Neil MacGregor and the National Theatre's Sir Nicholas Hytner were joined by Sir Andrew Motion, the former Poet Laureate, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, actor Griff Rhys Jones, Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry and Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha to issue a plea to protect arts funding after the election.

Samuel West, currently starring in the West End hit Enron which began with tiny subsidised theatre company Headlong, said maintaining arts funding was a "no-brainer".

Speaking at the launch of a joint manifesto for the future of culture, he said: "The arguments are so clear, economically, socially, aesthetically, that the only possible reason to reduce the total amount of money available for the arts in this country is censorship."

The group gathered in the British Museum's Great Court less than 24 hours after Chancellor Alistair Darling slashed £60 million — about four per cent — from the Department for Culture, Media and Sports 2010-2011 budget.

But fears are of even bigger cutbacks to come. Shadow culture spokesman Jeremy Hunt has admitted the arts would be given no special protection under the Tories.

Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future, presented by a coalition of 17 bodies from Arts Council England to Visit London, argues that any reduction in public investment would make poor economic sense — and that the arts have already accepted massive cuts of £2.2 billion to pay for the Olympics.

Mr MacGregor said the arts in Britain was an "enormous phenomenon" in public life supported by a "tiny part" of public expenditure. The entire spend on culture represents only one per cent of the budget for the NHS, meaning any cuts could scarcely benefit other areas of public life but could severely damage Britain's thriving culture.

The arts generate £2 from philanthropy, sponsorship and their own business ventures and box office for every £1 of public subsidy. Sir Nicholas Hytner stressed that the subsidy was what created successes like the National Theatre hit War Horse. "Public investment means we can take risks we would otherwise be unable to take," he said.

The manifesto says investment has created a huge appetite for culture and generated billions for the economy.

The Liberal Democrats have promised to ringfence arts spending. But Mr Hunt claims culture would be better off under the Tories because they would reallocate lottery funds and encourage US-style endowments. Ben Bradshaw, the Culture Secretary, said he was "confident" Labour would maintain funding.

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