News and Events
British Council report links culture and class
8th Sep 2010
In Culture and Class, published by the British Council�s think tank, Counterpoint, Holden says successive governments� arts policy and funding choices have not treated artists and audiences as individuals.
Holden states: �Legislation has concerned itself with institutional governance. Cultural funding has been directed towards the maintenance of organisations - either that, or to the achievement of targets where people are treated as clay to be worked on.�
Instead, Holden says that government policy should aim to �produce culturally confident individuals with creative capabilities�. He argues people who lack cultural confidence are less socially mobile.
The report states that part of the British population is �culturally and creatively disenfranchised� and points to research conducted in 2009 that found that, in 2007/8, 76.7% of members of higher socio-economic groups had attended at least one arts event, compared with 53.8% of lower socio-economic groups.
Highlighting Theatre Royal Stratford East for starting �to talk to the local community about what they want to see in their theatre�, Holden argues that the steps taken by organisations, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, will result in the companies having �a much richer relationship with the public�.
Source: The Stage
