It is with some surprise that ArtsProfessional learns that the DCMS now regards the recommendations of the McMaster report as policies to be carried out, rather than ideas for discussion and consultation (p3). We suspect that many in the arts sector – and possibly Sir Brian himself – will share our surprise. While several major representative organisations have welcomed aspects of the report, some of the 23 recommendations have caused sharp intakes of breath and the dropping of jaws.
The idea of a week in which all arts events are free has provoked gasps among some audience developers, who feel that the well-established principle that ‘free’ does not automatically make something ‘attractive’ has been forgotten. Others are wondering not only what the price-tag might be of such an enterprise, but what effect it might have on unsubsidised arts organisations which will be trying to carry on business as usual during ‘free week’. Another recommendation causing dismay is the idea that funders should ‘have and take up the right to be involved in the appointment processes of the organisations they fund’. Shouts of ‘top-down micromanagement!’ are ringing through the air. Does Culture Secretary James Purnell not realise that this strikes at the heart of independence among arts organisations, as well as potentially compromising Board members’ fiduciary responsibilities? Possibly, to a Government which already ratifies directly the appointment of directors for major galleries, it seems a natural extension of the status quo. Where the ‘funders’ (presumably meaning Arts Council England, local authorities, trusts and sponsors – imagine the size of the interviewing panel!) are going to find the time and the manpower to carry out this recommendation is also unclear. The ramifications of some of these ideas must be thoroughly discussed and worked out before any of these projects are set in motion. We have no quarrel with much of what Sir Brian has written – some of it is as welcome to the arts sector as sweet water on parched ground. But the Government clearly believes that a highly imaginative set of ideas, fertilised by consultation among a relatively small group of artists and arts managers, and presented as recommendations by one person (however respected), can be co-opted, complete and undigested, as policy. Mr Purnell, in this at least, you are wrong.
Catherine Rose
Editor