The case for the defence

The Arts Council is at risk. After over a decade of questionable goals and bureaucratic funding requirements, as well as the mismanagement of a series of cuts, voices have started to call for its abolition.

The past ten years have been peculiar times for the arts. Under the Labour government pots of money were thrown at culture. But strings came with this funding, requiring art to serve political ends. While there has been cash it has been less for culture and more for schemes promoting social inclusion, community issues and urban renewal.

Rather than rebel against these demands the Arts Council has been at the vanguard. As a consequence, artists needing support have had to jump through hoops asking more about their sexual identity than about the art form. This has contributed to high-profile failures, as the purpose of projects became disorientated. These include the Public in West Bromwich, which was erected in our name but failed to ignite people’s interest, and other white elephants, such as the unpopular National Centre for Popular Music. A lot of money has been wasted.

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Rogersway

October 23rd, 2009 4:28pm Report this comment

You make the frequently repeated comment that in the last ten years arts funding has increased but the fact I found most interesting in Sidwell's flawed paper was that it has merely been transferred from the Lottery to the Treasury, thereby giving Government a greater degree of influence and enabling it to claim that it has increased arts funding

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