Fabian Society says putting culture and creativity at the heart of our lives will renew the ‘British Spirit’
The Fabian Society today calls for arts, culture and heritage to be placed at the heart of the Government’s project of national renewal. Our creative industries are currently worth £126bn to the British economy. Equally, our international standing and reputation as a bastion of arts and culture continues to make the UK a highly attractive place to live, work and, invest.
A new Fabian Society report calls for a range of arts to be made available to everyone – at all life stages and in all communities.
- Children should spend at least 10% of their school week on arts activities. They should be given access to a National Music Education Service and museum loan boxes.
- Everyone should be issued a universal library card from birth. Young people should also be given a culture pass to ensure greater access to arts and heritage.
- Priority should be given to equipping current and future workforces with the skills needed to maintain and future proof British heritage.
- A comprehensive financial review of arts funding – including Arts Council England and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) – should ensure that it is effective and unlock new coalitions and approaches.
The Fabian Society today calls for arts, culture and heritage to be placed at the heart of the Government’s project of national renewal. Our creative industries are currently worth £126bn to the British economy. Equally, our international standing and reputation as a bastion of arts and culture continues to make the UK a highly attractive place to live, work and, invest.
From Harold Wilson’s Swinging Sixties to New Labour’s Cool Britannia, the cultural life of Britain has always played a key part in the story of rejuvenation that Labour governments deliver for Britain. As Keir Starmer calls for a ‘decade of renewal’ this powerful new pamphlet from the Fabian Society argues that access to arts, culture and heritage are fundamental to delivering this.
Access to participation in, and enjoyment of, the arts should be something available to all Brits, no matter what their background or where they live.
The report, from the Fabian Society’s dedicated Arts and Creative Industries Policy Unit, focuses on three key areas:
Arts and Culture in Schools
At present access to arts and culture is largely the preserve of those in cities and larger towns and the better off. This is compounded by a crisis in arts teaching. A commitment to high quality, regular arts and cultural education for all children will be key to Labour’s mission of breaking down barriers to opportunity.
To deliver this, the report calls for measures to transform education and childhood experiences of the arts. These include:
- A childhood arts guarantee called ’11 by 11’ which would remove the class ceiling which prevents many children from poorer backgrounds and areas from participation in the arts. Under this guarantee, every child would be able to learn an instrument, act in a drama, paint a mural and sing in a choir.
- Museums brought to life in the classroom through a ‘Box it Up’ scheme that brings artefacts into the classroom, creating a tangible link between learning about, and experiencing, heritage.
- A National Music Education Service, building on Labour’s manifesto promise of a National Music Education Network, increasing access for all children.
- A ‘Teach First’ for the arts to make teaching an attractive and rewarding career for arts graduates and improving educational attainment for all children.
- All schools should be twinned with their local arts organisations.
- Heritage should become an integral part of the national curriculum with children actively learning about, and participating in, the crafts, customs and celebrations that make up the rich tapestry of the UK’s cultural heritage.
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The Arts Where We Live
Encountering great art, historical objects and cultural experiences is inspiring, empowering and transformative. But 14 years of austerity have made access prohibitive to all but the well off. Major cultural institutions can also feel distant from the places where people grow up, live and work.
To demolish these barriers the report makes recommendations that focus on bringing art, heritage and culture to the people of the UK where they are and where they spend time. These include:
- A requirement for all nationally funded museums and galleries to adopt an open data policy of sharing high-resolution images free of charge for all out of copyright works.
- Art should be lent to places where people naturally congregate, including schools, libraries, community hubs, GP surgeries, hospitals, and town halls, with loan conditions made less onerous.
- A British culture pass available for all residents of the UK on their 16th birthday to enable and encourage wider participation in – and access to – the arts.
- A new deal for libraries, including a universal library card.
Paying for the Arts
The Labour government has inherited a dire set of financial circumstances. But they have also made growth their key aim for government. The UK’s arts and culture sector will be an essential engine of that growth but it must be funded in ways that make access to future jobs and careers available to all talent.
The report argues that there is an urgent need for a full and comprehensive review of arts funding to ensure it is both effective and open to new approaches. This does not need to involve vast increases in government spending, but smarter approaches from both government and the sector.
These include:
- A redeployment of National Lottery funding for good causes with a temporary adjustment of the allocation to Arts and Heritage by 5 per cent to deal with the crisis in capital funding of cultural and heritage buildings.
- All major capital fundraising that includes lottery support to have an endowment built into it to ensure every grant is self-sustaining.
- A review of Arts Council England (ACE). This would explore how ACE can serve the cultural needs of institutions of national significance alongside those of smaller community rooted organisations including libraries and museums.
- The remit of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to be revisited to reestablish its focus on the arts.
- Extend the scope of R & D tax credits to match the OECD definition, which explicitly includes arts and culture – which the UK’s definition excludes.
- A ‘Progressive City Tourism Charge’ on tourist accommodation as a key new funding source, filling a central pot deployed and administered locally by metro mayors.
- A ringfenced levy on technology manufacturers to compensate artists whose original work is copied, stored and shared through their devices.
- A Cultural Pipeline Fund for grassroots development contributed to by major plays in the sector in return for the government maintaining or increasing fiscal incentives such as creative tax reliefs and zero-rating VAT on art imports.
- A reset with the EU to include rejoining Creative Europe as an associate member; ensuring a visa waiver arrangement for creative practitioners and developing frictionless customs arrangements.
Alison Cole, Director, Fabian Society Arts and Creative Industries Policy Unit said:
“With a new government, the opportunity exists to rebuild the cultural sector. The joy of a life-enhancing education that embraces arts and creativity, will have a greater impact on the lives of the British people than many a government plan. The arts are not an optional extra – they are essential.
“By embedding creativity in the school curriculum; making the arts part of everyone’s daily experiences; firing up our world-leading creative industries; and investing in creativity and technology hand in hand, we can harness the arts as powerful engines of change, inspiration and future growth.”
Commenting on the report, Playwright James Graham (Sherwood, This House) said:
“It’s so exciting to see practical but nevertheless ambitious ideas on how to re-embed arts and culture into the fabric of our communities and our schools. The arts enrich any society, in all the ways. Emotionally, economically… This moment demands they not be an afterthought but a key part of the nation’s renewal.”
Notes
- Contact: Emma Burnell, Media Consultant, Fabian Society burnell@fabians.org.uk or 07851 941111.
- The report will be published at 01 on 18.09.2024.
- Arts For Us All is published by Fabian Society’s Arts and Creative Industries Policy Unit. The Arts and Creative Industries Policy Unit was set up at the Fabian Society in November 2023, under the directorship of Alison Cole.
- The Fabian Society is Britain’s oldest political think tank. Founded in 1884, the society is at the forefront of developing political ideas and public policy on the left. The society is alone among think tanks in being a democratically-constituted membership organisation, with around 7,000 members. It is constitutionally affiliated to the Labour party.