The first cut is the deepest

I think Cat Stevens was wrong, and now we’re finding out the hard way. Because now, it’s not just artists that are feeling that cut – it’s everyone. Those programmes that give a voice to young people? Pruned. Those places neighbours can meet to share their stories? Sliced. Those events communities can go to explore their histories? Hacked.

At a time like this when tensions are rising over everything from the cost of milk to political polarisation, we need creative culture more than ever. Because the arts don’t just entertain and inspire; they help us understand each other and ourselves.

Art offers a way of making sense of ourselves

We’ve seen this play out time and again. During the pandemic, when streets were silent – apart from that periodic clapping – and our daily lives were turned on their heads, it was music and films, streams and street art that kept us going.

A 2021 study from University College London found people who engaged in creative activities during lockdown reported better mental health and emotional resilience.  During the 1930s US Great Depression, Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal included vast investment in public art to provide jobs, hope and a sense of national identity rooted in diversity.

In a near-bankrupt post-war Britain, the founding of the Arts Council in 1946 was intended to spark cultural renewal and a new renaissance, as a national priority. Art is never about escaping reality; it’s always a way of helping us make sense of it and ourselves.

Cutting the arts is cutting the ties that bind us

But – you may ask – when adult social care, NHS waiting lists and children’s safeguarding are at risk, surely the arts have to take a back seat? And I get it. I get that civic leaders are being asked to make almost impossible decisions. With local councils squeezed by rising demand for services and decades of underfunding; arts and culture are increasingly placed in the “would be nice, but…” pile.

But I think this misses the big picture. Because creative programmes in schools and youth centres are proved to prevent social isolation and anti-social behaviour. Cultural events bring people back to our high streets. Community art projects help tackle loneliness, mental ill-health, and even lessen community tensions. In other word, cutting arts funding is cutting the ties that bind us.

In my hometown of Birmingham – famed for its creative vibrancy and a large animatronic bull – almost all our cultural funding was recently scrapped in an emergency Section 114 notice which reduced the arts budget to zero. Right across the wider West Midlands region, organisations that have served communities for years are being left in limbo.

Our region is one of the most diverse in the country, with more than 40% of residents identifying as Black, as Asian or from another ethnic minority background. In this context, culture isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. Youth theatres in Dudley, spoken word nights in Coventry, community festivals in Sandwell; these are all bringing people together across background, faith and identity.

Competing for shrinking pots

This is a missed opportunity. With focused planning and practical support, the region’s artists, organisations and grassroots projects could lead the way in using culture to address some of the biggest issues we face: inequality, social division, mental health and economic recovery. But instead, we’re watching that potential go to waste. Maybe our Metro Mayor needs a cultural attaché to rebalance the debate on arts and new investment.

It’s not just theory. The Centre for Economics and Business Research found for every £1 spent on the arts, £5 is returned to the economy. And that’s before you count the harder-to-measure benefits of confidence, pride, belonging. The irony is that while culture is being defunded at the local level, it continues to be championed in our national rhetoric.

The creative industries bring over £126 billion to the UK economy each year and support more than two million jobs and it sits centre place in the UKs Industrial Strategy. And yet this money still disproportionately ends up in London. For all the talk of levelling up, regional arts organisations are left to compete for shrinking pots of funding, while local authorities simply don’t have the means to pick up the slack.

Culture is infrastructure with high growth potential

There is still time to change course. Councils, combined authorities, government departments, funding bodies and national cultural institutions need to work together, not only to protect what’s left, but to rebuild with greater equity. That means proper, long-term investment outside London. It means recognising culture is infrastructure with high growth potential, and it means listening to the communities who know that their stories matter.

Let’s be radical, not just funding art for art’s sake but embedding the arts where they can make a real difference to communities and to the lives of real people – wherever they are. From tackling antisocial behaviour and youth disengagement to improving mental health, education, social care and loneliness, the arts have the power to connect, heal and inspire.

By integrating creativity into social services and community initiatives, we can develop soft skills, build stronger communities and unlock new ways of learning and supporting one another.

We’ve had enough cuts. It’s time for the last cut, and for the healing to begin.