Cornerstones of culture

Back in March of last year, the Local Government Association (LGA) launched its Commission on Culture and Local Government aimed at investigating the role of publicly funded culture in supporting recovery from Covid.

After nine months of roundtable sessions across four themes - sustainable and inclusive economic recovery; health inequalities; social mobility, cultural education, and creative skills; and place - the commission culminated in the publication of Cornerstones of Culture, a report which set out detailed recommendations.

Considering the wider context in which the commission took place, one might question why we are so focused on culture at this time. In current circumstances - the rising cost of living; pressure on local services; inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic; climate change and global instability - it could be tempting to discuss investment in cultural services as a luxury we can’t afford.

Absolutely the right time

But for the same reasons, these services have never been more important. 75 years after councils first invested in the arts in our communities following World War II, local culture can now be used to support mental wellbeing, provide educational opportunities and boost the economy as part of the recovery from Covid and the cost-of-living crisis.

Now is absolutely the right time to acknowledge the role councils play in binding together culture, communities and place - and discuss what publicly funded culture needs in the next 75 years. Our report sets out both the issues and our ambitions for more resilient, diverse, inclusive and place-led approaches to culture to help our communities and economies thrive.

The commission, chaired by Baroness Lola Young, identified four cornerstones essential to a healthy local cultural ecosystem: capacity, leadership, funding and evidence.

We tested four propositions about how local culture, including libraries and archives, museums and heritage, the arts, creative industries, parks and the wider historic environment could contribute to recovery from the pandemic. These were:

•    Resilient places – promote civic pride and change perceptions about a place, contributing to improvements in wider social and economic outcomes.
•    An inclusive economic recovery – essential to our national economic recovery, particularly in relation to the growth of the wider commercial creative economy and in levelling up economic inequalities between regions.
•    Social mobility – address educational and skills inequalities and challenges around social mobility.
•    Health inequalities – challenge health inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic.

Need for a vibrant cultural ecosystem

The commission also gathered over 50 case studies from councils and local cultural sector partners across the country, showcasing best practice. These included:

•    Estuary 2021, an arts festival helped by leadership and investment from Medway Council and Kent County Council, celebrating the lives, landscapes and histories of the Thames Estuary. The festival attracted over 200,000 visitors in person for a total economic impact of £6.5 million.
•    Culture Liverpool’s new community programme designed to slowly re-introduce culture to clinically extremely vulnerable people, those who have experienced mental health challenges, bereavement or financial hardship.
•    A Plymouth Culture programme taking on empty units and activating them as spaces for creative and cultural projects, looking beyond simply driving footfall to reimagining the high street.

A vibrant cultural ecosystem creates jobs, supports health and wellbeing, enhances learning and opens up opportunities for young people. High streets see more people, visitor and night-time economies thrive, creative industries are supported to grow and our places become more unique.
  
The pandemic was a powerful reminder that people reach for culture in times of crisis, as well of those of joy and celebration. Access to culture and creativity provides hope, inspiration and enriches people’s lives, and that access must be fair for all.   

Cultural services have considerable agency

There is virtually no other service area that allows councils to demonstrate leadership of place like cultural services, which are largely unconstrained by national regulations and requirements. This gives them considerable agency and scope to work with cultural partners and residents to shape a local offer that truly meets local need and aspirations.

Local government invests £1.1bn directly in cultural services each year in England, but this funding is under significant strain with the gap as calculated before the 2022 Autumn Statement standing at £2.4bn.

Public funding is an essential part of the ecology of the arts and culture in the UK, which underpins growth in the creative industries and visitor economy. In 2019 the creative industries contributed £115.9bn to the UK and accounted for 2.2m jobs. These benefits can only be secured in the long-term with a sustainable funding settlement for local government.

Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson is Chair of the Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board.

You can read the full report here. 
The case study resource of best practice examples submitted to the Commission is here. 
You can watch short films featuring some of the examples of how culture supports economic recovery, social mobility, resilient places and better health and wellbeing here.