The efforts being made by Edinburgh City Council to hang on to Creative Scotland are not surprising (p1). Cultural institutions can bring kudos as well as cash to areas that really need it. From run-down areas of Glasgow or Edinburgh to areas of deprivation in Devon, arts organisations provide an economic fillip and - more than this - a boost to local morale and self esteem. What Creative Scotland or, for that matter, Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) provide is very valuable - and doesn't come cheap. Civic planners may be able to get the tills ringing with state-of-the-art shopping centres, but without cultural institutions and activities at their heart, they find it almost impossible to create the intangible buzz that characterises those towns and cities where people really like to live.
seeping into the local government sector across the rest of the UK. (Though cynics may suggest, of course, that this is because Edinburgh City Council isnt being asked to stump up any cash in this instance). Bury Met (p3) joins Northamptons Royal & Derngate and BAC on the long list of cultural casualties, undervalued by their local politicians, if not their local communities. John Holden (p10) points to the root of the problem. For local authorities, cultural expenditure falls between two stools. It is neither considered intrinsically important enough to be mandatory, nor sufficiently valued as a cost-effective way of delivering their social agendas (and Eleonora Belfiore, (p8), puts forward some sound arguments why this might be so). And yet, when threats are revealed, the public will often come out to bat for their local cultural gems as happened in Northampton and in Wandsworth. If councillors find it hard to set a value on the arts, then perhaps they should pay heed to the views of their voters. Local elections are only weeks away, after all.
Liz Hill and Brian Whitehead
Co-editors
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