In a landmark move, the British government has announced a £1.5 billion funding package to revitalise the country’s arts and cultural landscape. The Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, has emphasised the need for London-based museums and institutions to extend their influence beyond the capital and ensure they are truly national in scope.
The funding, described as the biggest reset in the arts for a generation, will see £600 million allocated to national institutions such as the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. However, Nandy has urged these institutions to look beyond their traditional London-centric focus and open up opportunities for young people across the country.
“Almost all of our national institutions are based in London, which means they need to work harder to make sure that they are genuinely national institutions [by] opening opportunities for young people from every part of our country,” Nandy said.
The Culture Secretary praised the outreach work of the Royal Shakespeare Company as an example of how national institutions could engage visitors across the UK. “I’m saying to institutions: ‘We are building the doors, but now you need to throw them wide open to the whole community,'” she added.
The funding package is designed to address the creaking cultural infrastructure across the country, with £160 million earmarked for local and regional museums, and a £425 million Creative Foundation Fund to support around 300 capital projects at arts venues. The heritage sector will receive a further £230 million, while public libraries can apply for £27.5 million, and national portfolio organisations will have an additional £80 million available over the course of this parliament.
Darren Henley, the chief executive of Arts Council England, welcomed the government’s investment, saying it would ensure “creative opportunities for generations to come.”
However, not everyone is entirely satisfied with the plan. Mike Clancy, the general secretary of the Prospect union, argued that the package was too focused on bricks and mortar institutions rather than the people who bring the sector to life. “Our culture is not just about artefacts, sites and buildings but about the people who bring it to life. This sector is facing an ongoing and intractable crisis in pay and retention which has to be addressed,” Clancy said.
Nandy also hinted that she would back the recommendations of a recent review of Arts Council England, which found a “loss of respect and trust” among those it backed, partly due to “perceived political interference in decision-making.” The Culture Secretary called the review a “really welcome shake-up of a sector that has been underfunded, undervalued and underutilised for too long.”
As the government’s ambitious plans unfold, the challenge will be to ensure that the nation’s cultural institutions truly become accessible and representative of communities across the United Kingdom.