News – Cultural manifesto signals joined-up vision

Key organisations from across the cultural sector have come together for the first time to highlight the role that they believe the arts, museum, library and archive sectors should be playing in the UK over the next ten years. In a joint manifesto, Values and Vision: The Contribution of Culture, organisations including Arts Council England (ACE), the National Museum Directors Conference and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, call for a new settlement with government to ensure that culture is placed at the centre of Government policy and Britain can maintain its position as a world-class culture. The document celebrates the sectors achievements over the last decade but acknowledges that there is still a great deal more to be done to fully realise its contribution to public life. In return, the cultural sector is collectively seeking a commitment from Government that it values the contribution culture makes to learning and education, creativity and economic vitality, social regeneration, health and community cohesion.
It is hoped that this collective lobbying will avoid what ACE chair, Sir Christopher Fraying has described as the Buggins turn approach to funding that was evident in the last Spending Review, when museums and galleries were given an uplift in funding whilst ACEs revenue grant was frozen. Nicholas Hytner, Artistic Director of the National Theatre, was one of a number of leading figures presenting the manifesto. Speaking on Radio 4s Today programme, he said, Museums and galleries are thriving. We really feel we deliver when we are invested in and want to point out what we can do, and what we could do, if this investment is sustained, and called on the Government to view current funding levels merely as a baseline. The vision statement looks ahead to 2015, by which time it proposes that participation in cultural activity will be the norm, involving over 85% of the adult population and 95% of young people. It also calls upon the National Curriculum to draw explicit linkages with the cultural sector to help overcome todays poverty of aspiration.