Inequality not only exists between London and the regions, it exists within regions and within art forms. Leila Jancovich argues that if change is ever going to be achieved a wider range of voices needs to be heard.
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Who Decides How Arts Council Funding Should be Shared? (Leeds Metropolitan University Media Centre Blog)
There has been a lot of discussion about inequality in levels of arts of funding, between London and the regions, since the rebalancing report at the end of last year showed that £69 per head is invested in the arts in London, and only £4.60 is given to the arts in the regions (Stark et al., 2013). But today I was asked to talk on Radio Sheffield about whether similar inequalities exist within regions, in this instance between Leeds and Sheffield, and the honest answer is, yes of course they do. Leeds take up by far the largest slice of the cake in Yorkshire. But the bigger questions are about how money should be shared and who decides?
Let’s not forget that the reason Leeds looks so well-funded is largely because two organisations (namely Opera North and Northern Ballet) are based here and between them take over a third of the total budget for the region. Opera and ballet nationally take up 22% of Arts Council regular funding. Is this acceptable for an art form which less than 3% of the population ever attend? (DCMS, 2011) In the case of opera, the Arts Council themselves admit audiences are declining... Keep reading on Leeds Metropolitan University Media Centre Blog