The task ahead

Labour landslides have tended to go hand in hand with defining cultural periods in our national life. The latest might give hope that another significant cultural moment is just around the corner, if the political focus can be found.

The 1997 victory was of course defined by the Brit Pop explosion and the Cool Britannia brand. But it was also a time when British filmmakers were cleaning up at the Oscars and theatre was revitalised with an eruption of new writing.

Beatlemania, which coincided with Wilson’s landslide of 1966 (a year also etched into the mind of every England football fan) soundtracked a ‘golden age’ in the arts thanks to the dedication of the arts minister, Jennie Lee, who introduced the first ever White Paper on culture.

And out of the devastation of war in 1945 came the establishment of the Arts Council, built to establish art’s place in the everyday lives of citizens.

Today, culture’s place in the hierarchy of British politics is one of many contradictions. The creative industries have often been the UK’s fastest growing sector, and yet government investment has been systematically cut over a decade, to the point where much of it is teetering on the brink of collapse. It is one of the last areas where Britain can be said to lead the world, and yet the DCMS saw 14 ministers pass through its doors since 2010, suggesting it is not a portfolio with much weight in Westminster.

And most importantly, in an age suffering from the fraying of our social fabric, the collapse of physical communities, plummeting levels of mental health, and a dramatic rise in social isolation, the arts measurably contribute to emotional wellbeing, self-esteem and a sense of place to an outsized extent given the tiny percentage of government expenditure they receive.

So what should the new Labour administration do to not only capitalise on culture’s economic and social benefits, but to once and for all liberate the arts from their silo on the periphery of policy, and cement their role in areas from health and education to levelling up?

Commit to returning arts to the core curriculum

Among the most damaging trends of recent years has been the stealth withdrawal of creative subjects from state schools – just as they have risen in the private sector.

A quarter of all state-sector arts teachers have been lost, and as spending per pupil dropped by 10 per cent, ‘unaffordable’ choirs and school plays disappeared with them. Music has suffered the most. Families earning less than £28,000 a year are now half as likely to learn an instrument as those earning higher. How have we allowed a situation to materialise where creativity in British schools has become a luxury of the middle – or indeed, upper – classes?

The Ebacc contains no arts subject. That means students and parents are being told there is no value in them. Small wonder, then, that take up of arts subjects at GCSE has fallen by a whopping 40 per cent. In higher education, these subjects are now on life support.

Growing up in an economically deprived red wall town, I took the first steps to becoming a playwright and screenwriter only because my comprehensive school put on school plays. But pupils who go on to have a career in the arts are far from the only ones who benefit. This is also about building the audiences of the future by introducing people to different cultural modes. As a bonus, plays and films may help cultivate the longer-than-a- TikTok attention span required for complex work, and drama in schools encourages empathy and understanding for different points of view.

As we restore arts to their rightful place in the curriculum, we should consider which artists and writers pupils will get the most out of. Plays written in Old English are important, but can be off-putting for some. Exciting modern works can be just as high quality, but offer a more accessible way in for young people.

Put culture at the heart of levelling up

The biggest unspoken crisis heading down the tracks is the rapid hollowing out of town centres. The death of the high street is not only an economic disaster, but a social one: in large parts of the county, people’s isolation is exacerbated by the absence of places to gather – to simply ‘be’.

With Amazon and eBay not going anywhere, it won’t be retail that rides in to save the day. Isn’t the answer a revival of live music, comedy, gigs, theatre and cinema? The live, collective experiences that you’ll never be able to deliver to your door?

Such a rejuvenation will require a national strategy. Keir Starmer gets this. His Creative Conference in the spring spoke to a passion for popular access to art in deprived areas. This is not some utopian vision: in communities like mine, the social clubs and welfares used to provide weekly entertainment via gig circuits, adult learning classes, painting – you name it.

We have to find a language to counter the perception that art is a luxury indulgence rather than a potential answer to our big social challenges.

Revolutionise local authority funding

The drastic cuts to council budgets have, understandably, left city halls with tough decisions. The ‘easy’, knee-jerk reaction is to cut culture.

In my own home city of Nottingham, the council has just cut its arts funding by 100 per cent. Every single penny – gone. In the aggregate, such decisions mean that local arts organisations in poorer areas struggle to survive, whereas in wealthier parts of the country, they thrive. This in turn create a vicious cycle in which future artists and audiences start to be drawn solely from one demographic.

Culture is one of the greatest economic multipliers – for every £1 invested it can return up to £5 to the local economy. At a minimum, Labour should protect local arts budgets; even better would be to fund local authorities sufficiently so that such protection is not needed.

Make the case for public service broadcasters

Our American counterparts think we in Britain are absolutely mad. A licence? To watch TV?

Yet the only reason the UK has been able to keep up with the Hollywood and Silicon Valley machines is the work of organisations like the BBC, which has a public service remit to find, train and amplify British voices and British stories, taking risks that the commercial sector cannot.

Both the left and the right rejoice in giving the BBC a kicking, but without it, you would quickly notice the disappearance of British work as American streaming services – whose remit is to create shows with broad international appeal – became the only game in town.

A Labour government should find a way to make this case, and the others above, in an admittedly difficult climate. The rewards – economically, socially, reputationally, and yes, even emotionally and mentally – could be immeasurable.

Image credit: Felix Mooneeram via Unsplash