Labour’s first 100 days

There’s a lot to do, to improve public services, our NHS, to stimulate growth, to restore faith in politics. There’s plenty to do across arts and culture too. A sector that’s rich in ideas and creativity but hugely impoverished after 14 years of cuts from local authorities and arts councils across the UK.

There’s been plenty of backroom lobbying recently. Various interest groups making the case for specific areas of our ecology. Good work, I’m sure, but not as joined-up or as well-understood as many would have liked. 

Five unequivocal asks

I’d been naively dreaming of a simple list – say five things – that any of us who think arts and culture is important and in need of help might sign up to. A card or note we could keep in our wallet or on our phones that we could refer to whenever we meet a politician, or a journalist or a schoolteacher or a participant or an audience member. 

Something artists and arts professionals can shout loudly and with one voice. A list so simple everyone can remember it. Five unequivocal things that a bold new government with a huge majority might commit to. That goes beyond enlightened self-interest. That makes the case for another Golden Age of arts and culture in this country. 

I appreciate that many different groups – informal and formal – have attempted this. Some have published lists. Others, I imagine, are lobbying quietly behind closed doors. Some of these ‘asks’ have been costed. Others are more general requests. And among these I count a huge number of - sometimes competing, sometimes self-interested - demands for change. 

There has been some good and strong lobbying. And I know many people have worked hard to pull together a set of commitments they want a new government to adopt. But not much of this is unified, nor widely known, nor understood. 

Bold commitments

So, here’s my list. Five things a new Secretary of State for Culture could boldly commit to. Five things to revive our flagging cultural sector. Five commitments to underpin a decade of national renewal. Five promises for your first 100 days to kickstart another Golden Age for arts and culture in the UK.

1. Restore 2010 level of arts funding and get it out fast

We need immediate and significantly increased investment, through arts councils, in artists, projects and arts organisations. Reverse the 40% real-terms cuts and champion what this might unleash. 

Investment, starting this financial year, adjusted for inflation, will be a lifeline for artists, freelancers, companies and venues, building resilience, restoring a commitment to innovation and risk, and will be a driver for growth. A thriving arts and cultural sector impacts every aspect of our society, sending a positive message globally about the UK’s extraordinary and diverse creativity. 

Oh and you need to contribute to sorting out the disastrous deficits facing local authorities up and down the country. They’re the biggest funder of the arts in this country despite the parlous state many find themselves in. 

Cost: say an additional £175m per annum (excluding local authorities)* 

2. Invest in refurbishing buildings

This might mean changing how lottery funds are distributed (perhaps returning the arts’ share to 25%). Many buildings – including refurbishments and new builds supported with lottery money 20-25 years ago – are now in desperate need of improvement. 

To improve access, sustainability and resilience - and to combat wear and tear – our capital infrastructure needs another decade of investment. 

Cost: say an additional £250m per annum*

3.  Rebuild trust in our arts councils

Restore the arm’s length principle. The principle that ensures arts councils operate at arm’s length from government. With the other arm around the shoulders of artists and arts organisations. So that all arts councils can have a decade free from meddling, from being forced to do the government’s work. 

Our arts councils are the envy of the world. Enable them to be properly staffed with brilliant people who want to enable extraordinary things and leave artists and arts organisations to go and make magic. 

And let’s give Let’s Create the chance to unleash its full potential. Let’s do away with tired old binaries about excellence and access. Let’s not fight like rats in a sack over which one is more important. It’s a great strategy, authored by hundreds of people who value arts and culture. But it’s been stifled by reduced resources and political meddling. 

And let’s have just one Secretary State for Culture who champions our sector for a whole decade. One impassioned and committed politician who’s on the side of art and artists and who wants to make a difference. 

Cost: say £1m per annum* (to properly resource arts councils)

4. Put the arts back on the curriculum

Develop meaningful pathways for young people to develop their creativity. Undo the damage to arts education and expand STEM to STEAM. Fund the recruitment, training and salaries of brilliant teachers throughout secondary and tertiary education and subsidise cultural experiences for all young people. 

To be costed within the Department of Education and devolved government departments.  

5. Rejoin Creative Europe and enable frictionless travel for artists

Introduce specific arrangements allowing artists, arts professionals and freight to move freely across borders between the UK and the EU. Membership of Creative Europe will enable funded collaborative relationships between artists and arts organisations across Europe and re-open touring networks across the EU to UK artists. 

Cost: There is an entry ticket for non-EU countries joining Creative Europe which is relative to population and GDP. The UK has re-joined Horizon Europe and enjoys the benefits of a pan European research and innovation project. 

Five commitments for the first 100 days.  What better way to kickstart a decade of national renewal? It starts today.

David Micklem is a writer and arts consultant. 
 davidmicklem.com
@davidmicklem

*These are significant numbers. An additional £426m a year would represent roughly a doubling of Arts Council England’s budget,  just 0.03% of overall government spending in 2024. Or less than 20% of the cost to the NHS of clinical negligence claims. Or twice the value of the contract to PPE MedPro for faulty medical gowns…