Even if geographic boundaries are less relevant in the digital era, questions about where art is made, who makes it, with whom, and for whom are still important in the arts funding debate, says Marcus Romer.
It can feel a little precarious out there – balancing on each others shoulders to keep upright – as our scene from our recent production of Blood + Chocolate shows…
There has been a lot of activity and online chat about the ‘Rebalancing the Cultural Capital’ publication. Here the amounts of money per head invested in arts and culture varies geographically. The headline news is that Londoners benefited from £69 of cultural spending per head, compared with just £4.50 in the rest of England. In addition, Arts Council England committed 45% of its £317m arts Lottery funding to London, meaning that Lottery players across the country funded the arts to the tune of £17.41 per person in London, but only £3.90 in the rest of England. The actual document can be found here
This of course that is not the whole story. It merely states where the funded organisations are based. For sure many of these tour, and play a national role for the benefit of the whole country. There are big national institutions, that are also obviously based in the Capital. The facts remain that it does need addressing as ACE Chief Executive Alan Davey made clear yesterday.
It can feel a little precarious out there – balancing on each others shoulders to keep upright – as our scene from our recent production of Blood + Chocolate shows…
There has been a lot of activity and online chat about the ‘Rebalancing the Cultural Capital’ publication. Here the amounts of money per head invested in arts and culture varies geographically. The headline news is that Londoners benefited from £69 of cultural spending per head, compared with just £4.50 in the rest of England. In addition, Arts Council England committed 45% of its £317m arts Lottery funding to London, meaning that Lottery players across the country funded the arts to the tune of £17.41 per person in London, but only £3.90 in the rest of England. The actual document can be found here
This of course that is not the whole story. It merely states where the funded organisations are based. For sure many of these tour, and play a national role for the benefit of the whole country. There are big national institutions, that are also obviously based in the Capital. The facts remain that it does need addressing as ACE Chief Executive Alan Davey made clear yesterday.