News and Events
A small investment in the arts goes a long way
19th Oct 2010
In May this year, New York City Council proposed a $50m cut to its culture budget. When we think of New York, we think of the city's world class cultural offer, and know that people are drawn from across the world to visit MOMA, Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center and the Met. This proposed 25% cut would have had an impact on the ability of New York's cultural organisations to open their doors, never mind the invaluable and often unseen education and outreach work they produce. How were they, and the city as a whole, going to deal with a cut of this size?
Fortunately they didn't have to. Later that year the cut was reconsidered and was reduced to a more manageable 15%, supported by a prudent rationale from Mayor Bloomberg's office: 'Cultural institutions are not only at the heart of the city's life but at the heart of its economy'.
This example is compelling since, like New York, London is a world city with an envied artistic offer. Of course there are differences, but the core point remains: arts and cultural organisations create places where people want to live, work and visit - in short, they make our lives and cities better. At the Arts Council we believe in the value of art for how it makes us as individuals feel, and that the arts have a power beyond this that we can, and do, use to make a better and more prosperous society: whether it be though cultural tourism, regeneration, bringing communities together or raising the aspirations of our young people.
Looking across the Atlantic also brings us to another pertinent issue in the arts world: US-style philanthropic giving. For arts organisations in England public funding only makes up a part of their funding, 33% of the Whitechapel's turnover and for Sadler's Wells just 14%. These organisations and others are businesses that lever in other funds through commercial enterprise, private giving and commercial sponsorship. Public funding in this mixed economy provides the base, it underpins the core costs, the lights, heating in the winter, the spine of talented and dedicated staff that make the work come to life.
Read the rest of this article on London Says
Source: Arts Council
