Labour to focus on economic goals

Newly appointed Shadow Culture Minister, Dan Jarvis MP, has identified his five key areas of focus for the months ahead, with creativity and the creative industries topping the list. Describing himself as “committed to ensuring that the Government never lose sight of the economic significance of the [creative] industry”, he names “promoting growth and jobs”, and “nurturing creativity in young people” as key priorities. Celebrating the UK’s heritage, articulating a vision for the role of libraries and developing the cultural and creative legacy of the 2012 Olympics are also on the list, and he says he will be “looking at regional investment in arts and culture as well as ways to open up apprenticeships and jobs in the industry”. He is launching a report into ‘Arts in the Regions’, to investigate the impact of the Government’s drive to stimulate philanthropic donations to plug the funding gap: “I want to find out if philanthropists with the money to spare are more likely to spend the money on arts organisations in cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester then they are in Luton, Barnsley and Middlesbrough. If that is the case, how are we going to ensure that the arts remain vibrant in these places?” He added: “The arts must be nurtured and not neglected and that is what I intend to do.”