Hotspot

On the tide of economic recession and amidst the flurry of electioneering singling out one ‘hot’ issue affecting the arts is well nigh impossible. Those who could afford to attend The State of the Arts conference left with clarity from the politicians regarding funding cuts and suggestions that an incoming Tory Government would redefine Arts Council England’s policy (for which one could also read arm’s length) role. This only adds to the turmoil. The threat to close the 60 year-old Institute of Contemporary Arts is symptomatic of this turmoil: a recipient of £1.2m Sustain funding as a recession buffer, the organisation apparently already had deep-rooted problems. On a smaller scale, the loss of KUBE Gallery is the result of public spending restrictions hitting its higher education partner, rendering the visual arts an unaffordable ‘luxury’, whilst in my home town the council is proposing to slash £25,000 from the budget of Arts Development in East Cambridgeshire which manages the very small Babylon Gallery.
 

However, possibly the most disturbing fact of the week is that only 79 children eligible for free school meals achieved three A grade A-levels last year. OK, this isn’t the direct responsibility of the arts, but with a leadership role that places culture at the heart of civilised society, it isn’t ours to brush aside either. At recent Mission Models Money/ERA 21 seminars, Ben Cameron from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation pitched the fundamental crisis facing arts organisations as one of relevance rather than finance, whilst Stewart Wallis from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) challenged us to consider and foster a fairer moral economy. Many organisations, artist-led groups and artists operate with values akin to those proposed by NEF. As Liz Whitehead from Fabrica in Brighton suggested, we need to find ways of articulating these models and measures of value to policy makers beyond the arts, demonstrating their sustainability and relevance.