A coalition of countryside, farming and creative professionals has harnessed the direct support of leading political figures in a bid to gain recognition and funding for the arts and the creative economy in rural areas after a struggle to gain the attention of UK funders. The Rural Culture Forum (RCF), which emerged following the foot and mouth crisis of 2001, launched its Rural Cultural Strategy at the Houses of Parliament, at a meeting hosted by Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and attended by Shadow Arts Minister Ed Vaizey. The RCF hopes to set up an All Party Group to support rural cultural development, and believes that it has enough supporters in Parliament to do so. Lord [Chris] Smith, the former Labour Culture Secretary, has written to the RCF offering to become a member. Copies of the report have been sent to Arts Minister Margaret Hodge and to Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment. Hodge is currently working with Rural Minister Dan Norris on proposals for the DCMS and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to work together more closely on issues including the Rural Cultural Strategy. The strategy aims to provide a framework for the creative rural economy, and proposes a five-year rural cultural investment programme through which cultural capacity can be built in rural areas, and rural communities can gain the experience necessary to enable them to develop self-sustaining cultural regeneration initiatives. It puts forward seven specific initiatives including the creation of a National Rural Arts and Cultural Centre to replace the Royal Agricultural Show as a focus for cultural and social interaction.
The RCF claims that “rural communities, farmers and artists are contributing £500m p.a. to the national creative economy”, and argues that this could be doubled in the next five to ten years with appropriate support. Michael Hart, Chair of both the RCF and the Small and Family Farmers Alliance, called on the DCMS and DEFRA to lead on developing a strategy for environmental and economic stability. He criticised other recent national regeneration initiatives, including the Urban Cultural Programme (2004–2006), the Liverpool European City of Culture 2008 and, currently, the launch of the UK Legacy Trust Cultural Olympiad and the UK City of Culture bidding rounds, as offering “very little opportunity for rural communities to also bid in for support”.

http://www.ruralculture.org.uk