I am a huge supporter of the arts but it appears that the recent Arts Council funding fiddling is somewhat ill conceived.
It is of course right that the AC have the right to re-prioritise their funding and move it around. It, of course, needs to be clarified that the amount of money the AC spend is remaining constant. But whilst changing the priorities, and thus the types of organisations that are receiving cuts or new money, is clearly right it appears that once again this has been in a rather cack-handed way that does nothing to honour the enormous work that some of these organisation have contributed. Surely it would have ben better to have set, say a three-year funding change where existing organisations are weaned off their grant dependency whilst other new organisation start to benefit?
That said, I am a great supporter of the arts. I believe very strongly, for example, that music has the ability to transform the lives of young people. My only wish is that more could have the opportunity to make music as I do feel that things such as community cohesion can be addressed through the power of music making ‘together’. But this requires more money and a good deal of wider opportunity. In my view the sign of a socialised modern country is how much it allows the arts to thrive. Maybe the time has come to really evaluate what we spend on the arts and consider whether, in an increasingly leisure driven world, we should be doing more to support good art, in all its forms.
Axe falls on almost 200 theatres, galleries and community groups - Times Online
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