A Liberal education

In Britain, we are privileged to have great art on both a national and local level; from Miroslaw Balka’s ‘How It Is’ black hole installation at Tate Modern to the young artists on exhibit at the Victoria Art Gallery in my constituency of Bath. With the next general election fast approaching, Liberal Democrats are putting the finishing touches to a major new policy document on the arts and creative industries; a policy that will address issues from teacher training to funding. It will stress the importance of the arts and creative industries and show how we will promote excellence, access to, and appreciation of the arts.
 

Off Target
While the arts have an undeniable intrinsic value, they are also confidence-building, self-affirming and identity-forming. It is not surprising that art lies at the heart of many societies as it can help to create a sense of community and contribute to good health as well as social and economic well-being. This is why Liberal Democrats don’t see arts as an add-on. We believe that they deserve an end to Labour’s target-driven culture. The Government’s “five hours of culture for every schoolchild” target treats culture as an optional addition, not something that should be considered as fundamental. Our view is supported by the McMaster review of Arts Council England (ACE), which called for an end to this target-driven culture. Creativity cannot be judged simply by tick box targets and economic indicators. Inspiration and enjoyment cannot be measured as columns in a table. The arts should not be cordoned off in this way, and that is why we want to embed creativity as one of our principles of education, instead of it being an afterthought.
Localism is another cornerstone of Liberal Democrat policy. I believe that funding decisions should always be devolved to the lowest level possible. It is not for central government to determine spending priorities for local government. In 2008/09 the total expenditure on arts and culture by English local authorities was more than £222m, and I believe they are in the best position to assess the best way of investing this significant sum of money. Liberal Democrats would give communities a greater say in cultural provision and give money directly to communities to use for arts and cultural investment.

Invest To Save
It is important to highlight that, in these difficult financial times, investing in top quality art can generate income for a local economy. An obvious example of this is Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture. The city invested in a variety of arts and cultural programmes which resulted in 5.2 million people visiting the city, and generated £176m in tourism spend alone. Liberal Democrat councils have used the arts to contribute to community cohesion, such as the new Library, Information and Children’s Centre in the Dalton area of Kirklees. Here the residents took part in a creative project run by the centre and local arts agency, with local families and artists working together to develop their ideas on how they would like their new centre to look. The Conservative Council Leader for Barnet Council would have been wise to remember such things when he announced “we don’t do culture in Barnet”. Culture is not something you ‘do’; it lies at the heart of our communities.
Rightly, the burden of arts provision does not rest solely with local government. ACE is, and should remain, a key provider of funding. The Liberal Democrats will continue to argue that it should maintain its role and independence. ACE must have the freedom to distribute its money where it sees fit to ensure it continues to invest in innovation in the arts. I want the ACE to fund talent, not bureaucracy, and it should not be restricted to ‘safe’ projects. This ‘arm’s length’ approach would also see an end to the arts being used as a political football by the two other parties, as has happened in London, with the Mayor of London and Secretary of State arguing over the appointment of the Chair of ACE, London.
Liberal Democrats would utilise a similar approach in terms of National Lottery Funding. I have been alarmed by government’s diversion of more than £500m in National Lottery funds from arts and heritage distributors in order to fund the Olympics. The National Lottery was never intended to be budget polyfiller. As well as reaffirming the independence of the Lottery, Liberal Democrats would change the way it is taxed in order to increase the money available to the arts and other good causes.
Liberal Democrats support creativity, and want to make sure that everyone has access to some of the great work we have here in the UK. We are developing our policies on the arts, continuing our principles of promoting excellence, increasing access and encouraging enjoyment of the arts. These policies will reflect the importance of Britain’s arts sector and support its continuing development.