1 Introduction
Our inquiry
1. On 14 September 2010 the Committee decided to
launch an inquiry into funding of the arts and heritage. In doing
so we were very much aware of the challenges facing arts and heritage
organisations, including the impact of the recession and reductions
in overall spending by central and local government. We were also
aware that the results of the Government's Comprehensive Spending
Review (CSR), due to be announced in October 2010, would be more
than likely to detail further public spending cuts, including
to arts and heritage.
2. We agreed terms of reference and invited evidence
on the following issues:
- What impact recent, and future,
spending cuts from central and local Government will have on the
arts and heritage at a national and local level;
- What arts organisations can do to work more closely
together in order to reduce duplication of effort and to make
economies of scale;
- What level of public subsidy for the arts and
heritage is necessary and sustainable;
- Whether the current system, and structure, of
funding distribution is the right one;
- What impact recent changes to the distribution
of National Lottery funds will have on arts and heritage organisations;
- Whether the policy guidelines for National Lottery
funding need to be reviewed;
- The impact of recent changes to the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) arm's length bodies - in
particular the abolition of the UK Film Council and the Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council;
- Whether businesses and philanthropists can play
a long-term role in funding arts at a national and local level;
- Whether there need to be more Government incentives
to encourage private donations.
3. We held seven oral evidence sessions, and received
a total of 238 written submissions. In November 2010 we visited
arts organisations in Manchester and Dulwich Picture Gallery in
London. In January 2011 we visited the Arts Council Collection
in South London, and Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
4. Our inquiry spanned a number of significant announcements
regarding changes to arts funding, which are listed in the table
below:
| 26 July 2010 | Secretary of State announced review of DCMS' arm's length bodies; including abolition of UK Film Council and Museums Libraries and Archives Council;
|
| 14 September 2010 | inquiry into funding of the arts and heritage launched;
|
| 12 October 2010 | first oral evidence session held; witnesses included Alan Davey, Chief Executive of the Arts Council;
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| 20 October 2010 | Government announced results of CSR, including 25% reduction in DCMS budget; DCMS announced 29.6% reduction in grant-in-aid to the Arts Council;
|
| 26 October 2010 | Arts Council announced across-the-board cut of 6.9% to all its Regularly Funded Organisations;
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| 4 November 2010 | Arts Council announced launch of the National Portfolio funding programme;
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| 24 January 2011 | closing date for applications to the Arts Council's National Portfolio;
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| 25 January 2011 | final oral evidence session held with Alan Davey and Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of the Arts Council.
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Arts and heritage
5. The arts and heritage landscape in the UK is rich
and varied. This was reflected in the number and diversity of
arts and heritage organisations which submitted written evidence
to our inquiry. Almost all the submissions we received in relation
to our inquiry stressed the importance of the arts and heritage
in the cultural life of the country, and many stressed their importance
in attracting tourism, stimulating regeneration, and the role
they can play in education or health. For instance Arts Council
England, in its submission, stated that, in its view, "support
of the arts is crucial to our prosperity as a nation and the wellbeing
of its citizens [...]",[1]
and the Heritage Alliance told us that "heritage-led tourism
alone generates a return four times as great as the whole DCMS
budget and many, many times greater than central government expenditure
on heritage".[2]
6. We were also mindful of how popular, successful
and internationally admired the arts and heritage in the UK are.
Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media
and Sport summed up how he viewed the arts in his first keynote
speech in May 2010:
Britain has one of the most vibrant, extraordinary
cultural sectors in the world. We win more Oscars than any
country except America. We have more world-class museums and galleries
than anywhere else in the world. We have a theatre scene that
- in London alone - grosses more than half a billion pounds in
box office receipts last year. We have - in the British Library
- the largest and most comprehensive research collection in the
world, hosting more than 150 million items from every era of written
history, and our creative industries, that employ around 2 million
people.[3]
7. The cultural and economic benefits of the arts
and heritage are many, but how they should be funded has been
an ongoing source of debate. The arts and heritage sectors are
not inherently subsidised industries - a number of individual
artists, organisations, and heritage owners do not receive any
public money; however many do receive some public subsidy. It
is the level and administration of this public subsidy that is
often in debate, and, at a time of recession and public spending
cuts, never more so than now.
1 Ev 154 Back
2
Ev 149 Back
3
Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, keynote speech at London Roundhouse, 19
May 2010 Back
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