Letters – Too commercial

From Leigh French, Variant

The encroachment of commercial letting into cultural spaces with regards the Lottery (ArtsProfessional issue 58, September 22) is far from novel.
There are in fact many examples of it. In Scotland, this model that you advocate has not delivered sustainability or benefits to the arts – quite the opposite.

It is incorrect to talk of it providing long-term sustainability as private income generation hangs on the (mis)fortunes of national and local economies, and on the competencies of individual businesses – as can be seen from the fate of Zwemmers. We also shouldn’t assume that all commercial and cultural activities are necessarily compatible, that there is the space available, or that there will be uptake.

Rather than berating the organisations that have had little option but to adopt this model, we should be seriously questioning the validity of the model itself and implementing alternatives that can actually deliver. Just a thought…