National Campaign for the Arts Chair Sets Out Five Major Challenges to New Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

In an open letter to Karen Bradley, the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, National Campaign for the ArtsChair Samuel West has welcomed her appointment and set out five challenges that need to be addressed to allow the arts to 'play an even greater role in civil society, reaching and enriching the lives of a broader range of individuals and communities'.

He highlights pressures on local and national funding for the arts, along with the need to build on welcome recent innovations like theatre and orchestra tax relief.

He describes a perfect storm in arts education where 'the combination of a squeeze on arts in the primary curriculum, a downgrading of arts subjects at GCSE level and increased fees at our top specialist training institutions may mean that a career in the arts without the benefit of a private education and significant financial support will become increasingly rare.'

The impact of Brexit is also a concern, not simply due to potential loss of funding but also a myriad of other issues including international artistic exchange, export of cultural products, copyright, visas and access to training in European centres of excellence'.

He concludes by offering the Secretary of State support from the National Campaign for the Arts and requesting the chance to meet and discuss what help or insight the organisation might be able to provide.

Full text of Samuel West's letter:

Dear Secretary of State

An open letter of welcome from the National Campaign for the Arts

As Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts I want to welcome you to your new role. We are a Charity that supports decision makers and opinion formers to ensure they are well-informed about the value of the arts to society; we advise on the sector's ability to deliver the maximum cultural, social, economic and educational benefits to communities across the country.

We are committed to providing an objective, non-partisan perspective on the health of the arts. We produce an 'Arts Index' for England which since 2007/08 has monitored annual changes in twenty key metrics for the sector. The data shows us that despite some significant challenges, the sector has generally weathered a severe financial storm, with levels of attendance and participation not falling and those of employment and contribution to proportion of national GVA actually rising.

We are very much encouraged by your recognition of the social benefits of the arts and we would like to work with you in any way we can to ensure the nation continues to benefit from a thriving, world renowned arts sector. We believe that the arts could play an even greater role in civil society, reaching and enriching the lives of a broader range of individuals and communities, if you could address these five major challenges:

1) Maintaining national funding for the arts

We know that cuts in recent years to Grant in Aid could have been far greater and that a lot of the potential damage of these cuts has been mitigated by significant growth in National Lottery funding for the arts. Lottery money is no longer the icing on the cake it was intended to be but has become fundamental to the revenue funding of many arts organisations. We hope Lottery revenues will continue to rise but there is no guarantee of this. Sustaining the Grant in Aid budget (which has reduced in real terms by more than 35% since 2009/10) in the coming years will be crucial.

2) Safeguarding local authority funding for the arts

Councils have been the unsung heroes of arts funding for decades. Town Halls across the nation are under unprecedented pressure to reduce budgets and deal with increased demands in areas such as social care, but even so our analysis shows the arts have been cut disproportionately in the last five years compared to council services overall (despite the fact that investment in the arts accounts on average for less than ½p in every £1 spent by local authorities in England). There is an urgent need for national leadership to highlight the importance of the arts to the wellbeing of local communities and the value that this small but crucial investment brings.

3) Arts in public education

The arts is one of the few industries where Britain is an undisputed world-leader, partially thanks to long term national and local investment in the sector, but also because for years people have been able to identify and develop their artistic talents at every stage of their education. The arts sector is very concerned that an education system which has brought the nation generation after generation of diverse, gifted visual and performing artists may soon cease to do so. Despite the positive news of the Cultural Citizens Programme, the combination of a squeeze on arts in the primary curriculum, a downgrading of arts subjects at GCSE level and increased fees at our top specialist training institutions may mean that a career in the arts without the benefit of a private education and significant financial support will become increasingly rare.

4) New forms of funding

In the past five years we have seen huge reductions in the overall levels of government arts funding. To replace this, the sector is working hard to work more efficiently and develop new sources of income. The introduction of tax relief for theatre productions and then orchestras has been very welcome. Sustaining these and developing new models that also encourage investment in new work will bring further innovation and growth. Philanthropy in this country could be further developed as a sustainable income stream but, like corporate sponsorship, we lack the tax incentives available in other nations to encourage significant growth.

5) The impact of Brexit

We are now very concerned about our ability to get access to important European funding, such as the €1.3bn Creative Europe programme. But the implications of Brexit for the arts don't end with money. There are a host of other issues that we must address quickly: international artistic exchange, export of cultural products, copyright, visas and access to training in European centres of excellence, to name only some. It is crucial for the sector that we are not forgotten in the forthcoming negotiations and that we have the resources and support to allow us to help bring communities back together and to continue to fly the flag for British culture.

These are challenging times for our nation and the arts should be playing a major a role in making the best of opportunities ahead. To do this we need a Secretary of State who understands the issues for the industry and can work across Government to address current issues and ensure the sector continues as a world leader delivering ever greater benefits for the nation for generations to come. To this end, the National Campaign for the Arts is keen to support you in any way it can; I would welcome the chance to meet you and discuss what help or insight we might be able to provide.

Yours sincerely

Samuel West

Chair

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