Arts Council England should devolve funding powers to local authorities, think tank report recommends

Research by socialist political think tank the Fabian Society showed that local spending on arts and culture was 38.5 per cent lower than it was ten years ago.

Arts Council England cash - funded by the National Lottery - spent £50.40 per person on London-based organisations last year, the report published today (Monday) claims, compared with £21.26 per person for the rest of England.

Spending in the North East region (including Yorkshire & the Humber), meanwhile, has been cut by 39.6 per cent over the past decade.

The Fabian Society argues centralised funding of arts and culture is "not working" and that a decade of cuts has left the sector "extremely vulnerable".

The Cultured Communities report now calls for more power for local authorities and city region mayors over the money spent on the arts and culture.

It also revealed from research carried out in Hull that more than 5.3m people attended cultural events during the course of 2017, when it had City of Culture status. More than half (52 per cent) of residents interviewed the following year reported feeling confident in their home city, compared with 31 per cent from the same survey in 2015.

However, respondents in Hull also reported a "sugar crash" feeling afterwards, with uncertainty about what the future holds in terms of funding for culture in the city which remains the fourth most deprived local authorities in the country.

The 2017 City of Culture title also contributed to an increase in residents' perceptions of social cohesion, according to the report, with 38 per cent of residents by the end of 2017 reporting that they felt more connected to their community, compared with 33 per cent in 2015.

Researchers in the report argue that "investment in arts and culture is important and should be a high priority for local government in addressing the challenges caused by the Covid-19 crisis".

It goes on to recommend that National Lottery funding should be distributed to regions "on an equal per person basis by 2025", adding that: "Devolution of this funding should be piloted in selected mayoral combined authorities and the Greater London Authority, with decisions taken by arms-length organisations accountable to local politicians."

Ben Cooper, researcher at the Fabian Society, said: “Community arts and culture is an economic must have for every village, town and city if the Government is serious about levelling up. These grassroots organisations can support the high street, the hospitality sector, and improve everyone’s quality of life. If the arts thrive, we all do.

“The arts and culture ecosystem must be supported from the grassroots up, which is why councils must lead the way. They are rooted in their communities, know local cultural assets, and are best placed to shape the sector with sustainability and resilience at its heart.

“The government must put councils and combined authorities at the heart of funding decisions, giving them the flexibility, freedom and resources to urgently redress the balance. Arts Council England’s expertise can combine with local councils’ on-the-ground knowledge to make this money go further, faster.”

Arts Council England told The Yorkshire Post that while it was working to address the historical imbalance in funding between London and the rest of England, the reason for this gap was that many of the country's large, national organisations were based there.

Laura Dyer, Arts Council England Deputy CEO, Places and Engagement: “Making sure that everyone, no matter what their background or where they live, has the opportunity to experience high quality culture is a priority for us – we want our investment to reach every community across the country.

"This commitment is at the core of our new 10-year strategy, Let’s Create, through which we’ll continue to address the historic imbalance in funding. This work has already begun and since 2018, we’ve invested 75 per cent of our National Lottery budget outside the capital, an increase from 60 per cent.

"We’ve invested £181m in National Lottery Project Grants since it launched in 2018, and 75 per cent of this has gone outside the capital, with the North receiving 27.4 per cent of that funding, more than our other areas.

"We are also working in close partnership with local authorities, both nationally and locally, to bring our expertise alongside their local knowledge to support investment in culture.”

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