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Steve McQueen, Tracey Emin, Steve Coogan, Adjoa Andoh, Danny Dyer, Jesse Darling and many more spell out what must be done to restore Britain’s cultural lifeblood, from ending elitism to supercharging libraries – and flooding schools with music At least Labour has started well with the education secretary announcing a review of the curriculum, the idea being that the arts and creative subjects should play a central role. Art education isn’t just about developing artists: it helps creativity and development in science and other fields. Creative subjects have been steadily squeezed out of schools. If we don’t introduce the next generation to the full range of the arts, they will become exclusively a playground of the privately educated. That seems to be happening already and it has to change. I shall be watching closely to see what the new culture secretary does to make Labour’s aspirations a reality. Continue reading...
‘We need a cultural economy that can sustain a career in the arts’ … Bayadère: The Ninth Life by Shobana Jeyasingh. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian
The Importance of Arts in Education
Steve McQueen, Artist and Film-Maker
At least Labour has started well with the education secretary announcing a review of the curriculum, the idea being that the arts and creative subjects should play a central role. Art education isn’t just about developing artists: it helps creativity and development in science and other fields. Creative subjects have been steadily squeezed out of schools. If we don’t introduce the next generation to the full range of the arts, they will become exclusively a playground of the privately educated. That seems to be happening already and it has to change. I shall be watching closely to see what the new culture secretary does to make Labour’s aspirations a reality.
Adjoa Andoh, Actor
As with all creative and social endeavours, invest from the grassroots up. Put the arts back at the heart of the school curriculum. Children who can express themselves, collaborate and recognise nuance may not only grow into empathetic adults, but some will also have careers as flourishing creative artists. Bring back youth clubs, local and studio theatres, music venues, reduced ticket prices, funding and grants for poorer students, and keep galleries and museums free. Art for the people makes for a healthier, happier, contributing society.
Russell T Davies, Screenwriter
All schools have a football team. That’s seen as natural. But a school play is seen as sort of extra, somehow, like it’s a hobby, a dalliance, an irrelevance. A sideline for the kids who don’t fit in. But maybe those kids are the majority. And the discipline, imagination and sheer hard work of putting on a play are lessons for the rest of your life. I wouldn’t be writing and producing today if West Glamorgan hadn’t funded the arts, massively, in the 70s, I owe everything to that. All future artists, actors, directors, writers are sitting in school right now. Find them. And make sure drama, music and the arts are funded, supported and celebrated in every school in the land.
Katherine Rundell, Author
Invest in the very beginnings: invest hugely in Sure Start and in libraries, particularly in primary schools, so that we don’t recklessly squander all the talent, vision, jokes and inventions of a generation by condemning them to poverty.
Steve Coogan, Actor, Writer and Comedian
In the 1960s, Britain produced a wave of working-class movie actors celebrated throughout the world: Caine, Stamp, Courtenay, Connery, Finney. They were stars because they were real and visceral and resonated with ordinary people. And the reason they were able to break through was because we had subsidies that enabled working-class people to be creative and study the arts. Now, the arts have been downgraded to a luxury, not an intrinsic part of what defines us. Because they can’t be measured using the same profit and loss criteria as business, they’re put to one side. Yet that same unquantifiable stuff is of national significance and what made us punch above our weight in terms of creativity throughout the world. In recent years, the upper middle classes realised they could monopolise the arts, and the lack of subsidies enabled this. Now we have a depressing circle of posh people writing posh plays about posh people for posh actors. There is an export market for posh country mansion content but it turns the arts into an extension of the tourist industry – and it means so many stories from neglected perspectives aren’t being told. The arts are what stop us killing each other. There’s far more wisdom in Shakespeare – whose patrons subsidised him because they realised his value – than there is in the Bible, or in any religious tome. Communicating through storytelling is how we connect. It is the balm needed to put on the raw wounds of a divided world and a divided nation. Art is what defines us as human beings and what will save us. We denigrate it at our peril.
Gillian Wearing, Artist
Art should be seen as as important as English and maths when it comes to education. It might not be everyone’s mode of communication, but for many children and adults it is the only way they can communicate effectively with the world. We need creatives in every walk of life, including politics – so invest, invest, invest in it!
Stephen Hough, Pianist
At a time when Britain’s opera companies, orchestras, concert halls and classical musicians face an existential crisis of confidence, one rejoices at a PM who has not only spoken inspirationally about the importance of my art form, but who experienced himself its beauties and benefits as a child. On this optimistic note, I would like to suggest two things. Firstly, the opportunity for every child to learn a musical instrument. Studies show this aids concentration, coordination, imagination and social skills. Secondly, an hour a week for music appreciation in schools – where listening to Beethoven can be deemed as fundamental to the curriculum as reading Jane Austen. A key to beauty and ecstasy – and to a joy which will last a lifetime.
Lubaina Himid, Artist
Replenishing, growing and nourishing cultural activity in Britain has to become crucial to Labour policy. Everyone wins, no one loses.
Championing Creative People and Places
Championing our creative people and places while encouraging each other to imagine, experiment and exchange should be pivotal to their goal to enhance the everyday lives of millions of people. Building upon the promises they have already made, to understand and strengthen the cultural landscape, would enable all of us to benefit from the innovative endeavour in this country today.
Richard Osman, Novelist and Broadcaster
The absolute top of my list would be libraries and librarians in all primary schools. There is so much goodwill and potential funding in the publishing industry, I bet we could all make it happen. And, further down my list but still vital, could you ask Jess Phillips if she’d like to do House of Games?
Shaparak Khorsandi, Comedian
In the 90s, the bedsit I shared with a colony of woodlice was not ideal, but it was dirt cheap and meant I could afford to live in London, trying to make it as a standup. All over the city, bedsits, squats and shared houses were chock full of artists trying to make their dreams come true. Now though, with the scrapping of squatters’ rights, no housing benefit, and councils selling off council houses, it’s almost impossible to start from nothing. We are losing artists from poorer backgrounds. So who is telling their stories? Why are we allowing class to stifle artistic expression? Art is not a luxury. Let people in.
Mike Leigh, Director
Learn from your own history: return to earlier inspired Labour commitment to solid, healthy arts funding across the board (remember Jennie Lee). Make art, music and drama compulsory core subjects in all schools, and provide free musical instruments and other materials for all pupils. Invest directly, generously and properly in the independent film sector (beyond the recent tax breaks). End the cynical treatment of successful arts organisations, like Welsh National Opera, and scrap the insane and totally irresponsible insistence that English National Opera abandons London. And end the government’s powers of veto over the appointments of state museum and gallery directors.
Jeremy Deller, Artist
If money was no object, or the political will was strong, I’d like to see a network of creative youth clubs set up around the UK, where any young person could drop in and play instruments, paint, dance and use tech creatively. This idea is not a new one and examples are out there that could be scaled up. Two I have seen work are the brilliant National Saturday club and Heart n Soul’s transformational Do Your Own Thing, the creative club for young people with learning disabilities and young autistic people.
Jack Rooke, Writer and Comedian
My sitcom Big Boys would not have existed without the 2020 BFI young audiences content fund. This was supported by the government, then got cut by them and now doesn’t exist. So many of the schemes and bursaries I benefited from have been wiped away. I’d love for Labour to reinstate some of those to help people create work that can stand alongside stuff by more wealthy artists and writers, who can afford to take more risks – and make work out of their own pockets. But even before that stage, I would love for Labour to reintroduce youth clubs and youth schemes in communities that don’t have such easy access to the arts geographically. So many schools try to undervalue arts subjects, yet it’s often extracurricular activity access for young people that inspires truly diverse, compelling talent from all over Britain to come to the fore.
Nish Kumar, Comedian
Tackle the housing crisis and improve public transport. Standup comedy requires no startup costs: what stops people going into it is more to do with skyrocketing rents and the cost of trains. Also: government funding for bursaries for the Edinburgh fringe. Given the success of shows that started life there – Fleabag, Baby Reindeer – it seems a wise investment. It also launched the career of John Oliver (the “poor man’s Nish Kumar” as he was described on his Wikipedia page, until my comment was removed).
Shobana Jeyasingh, Choreographer
All professions need specialisms and art-making is no exception. Whether it is contemporary dance, playing the baroque guitar or learning to create a character on stage, specialising and embarking on a precarious freelance life doesn’t come from a desire to be part of an elite. Nor is it a threat to the ideal of civic participation in the arts. Cooking is a life skill enjoyed by many but that doesn’t mean we dispense with chefs and caterers! We need a cultural economy that sustains, values and gives choices to those embarking on a career in the arts, no matter where they live in the UK. Otherwise acquiring or enjoying specialisms will become the preserve of an elite.
Ian McEwan, Author
Chancellor Reeves, more money! A tiny fraction of government expenditure brings huge economic returns and wellbeing. Performing arts: Arts Council, please fund massively our elite, internationally acclaimed organisations while (massively) backing grassroots, local community-based theatres etc. Each of these domains urgently needs the other and are not in opposition. Many believe you should tone down your own notions of social justice and allow more autonomy to the creative people who apply for support. They are not idiots or brutes. Literature: Arts Council, visit Oslo’s Litteraturhuset – a brilliant lively place for writers and readers, with an auditorium, restaurant, bar, editorial spaces, classrooms and bookshop. Use public and private money to seed gradually our own Literature Houses around UK’s urban centres. Finally, lobby the PM and education minister to get music back into schools.
Richard Eyre, Director
Art is a commentary on life.
Arts and Politics
It’s everything that politics isn’t: politics generalises about people, art particularises. The arts take us into the eyes, ears, hearts and minds of other people: they help us to understand them – they’re weapons of happiness. We need arts funding bodies, together or separately, to encourage amateur arts as well as support professional work – those with rare gifts who live to please and please to live. But any money that the government bestows on the arts has to be matched in education: we need to create an appetite and ensure the existence of future audiences.
Tracey Emin, Artist
They should bring art back to the school curriculum. Keep museums free and, of course, provide more funding for the arts.
Danny Dyer, Actor
The new government must start addressing the lack of working-class people in the arts. It’s vital we give young kids from council estates opportunities to make something of their lives. Never has there been more of a disconnect between the elite and everyone else. It’s a fucking disgrace.
Jesse Darling, Artist
Although some of its beneficiaries have famously forgotten it, many of Britain’s most celebrated exports – including Britpop, punk and the YBAs – were directly made possible by the welfare state. The single most effective way to bring about greater participation and diversity in the arts would be to restore it. If there are to be new arts policies rolled out, let them be part of a rigorously reimagined system of social provision that ensures homes, education and healthcare for all.
Paul Smith, Frontman of Maxïmo Park
As an arts graduate from a working-class background, I’d like to see Labour reaffirm the importance of arts education in schools and further education. The last 14 years of Tory governance has seen creative degrees denigrated by numerous Conservative politicians, and there have been threats to limit application numbers for so-called “low value” university courses. The value of a degree (or anything!) shouldn’t be solely based on someone’s potential salary. This approach favours those from wealthy families, who will continue to pursue these subjects undeterred. We will all be poorer if access to the arts is limited to the narrow vision of those who can afford it.
Tracy-Ann Oberman, Actor and Playwright
My production of Merchant of Venice 1936 proved something to me very clearly: strong theatre productions – made with heart and intention, a clear entertaining message and a desire to bring communities together – can be the most effective and positive way of challenging hearts and minds. Seeing our production tour the country to all the wonderful regional theatres – all made up of different demographics, ages and cultures – reminded me that our theatres are the cultural lifeblood of the UK. Sometimes it may be the only live performance a child ever has a chance to see. Bringing quality storytelling and entertainment can really change a person. I hope our new government can invest in keeping these theatres alive. The West End is always exciting, but to take productions around the UK is a real privilege.
David Nicholls, Author
A well-stocked library, a local repertory theatre, English, drama and music supported in state schools, a university grant system: everything that allowed me to imagine a career in the arts has since been undermined or eliminated. I hope that improved access to the arts and humanities will be the priority of the new government. The creative industries in this country will only ever really thrive if they’re open to all.
John Akomfrah, Artist
It would be a success if the new Labour government maintained Lisa Nandy as culture secretary for the whole parliamentary term.
Olivia Laing, Author
Let’s start by unyoking the word “elitism” from art. Over the past 14 years of Tory rule we’ve seen a relentless attack on the arts. Anything complex in form or rich in ideas has carried the charge of exclusivity – a disingenuous defence for savage funding cuts. Let’s call this what it is: a deliberate attempt to impoverish the working class.
Arts Funding and Education
Art belongs to everyone. People are intelligent and receptive whatever background they come from and the charge of elitism has been used to defund art at a time of unprecedented need. As the former Labour minister of arts Jennie Lee, herself a miner’s daughter, wrote in 1965, in the first white paper on the arts: “In any civilised community the arts and associated amenities, serious or comic, light or demanding, must occupy a central place.” Next: a massive re-investment in education. Let’s move on from the Conservative obsession with Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and re-invest in the humanities at every level of education. Music lessons, art classes, after-school clubs, drama groups, youth centres: these are the places where children encounter art and find stories that open up their worlds. End the war on the universities and especially their arts departments. Reverse departmental closures. We need to see education as more than simply a passport to a high-earning career, but as a process that shapes a person’s mind and inner life, their curiosity and capacity for critical thinking. We’re heading into dangerous times, and art is crucial if we want to learn how to separate the true from the untrue, how to build community, how to live ethically and how to find joy and pleasure in the dark.
Anish Kapoor, Artist
The arts urgently need to be seen as a vital part of our lives. They reveal our sometimes invisible psychic reality. They put politics and social injustice in perspective. They dare to disobey and even to disavow so-called accepted truths. Tragically, in the last 20 years, we have seen the arts become part of the entertainment industry, linked in invidious ways to the global capitalist project. Increasingly, funding comes from business sources, as in the US model. A sadly blind and doctrinaire policy. Conservative governments have encouraged this as a way of reducing the voice of the arts, which is often critical of their positions. This is deeply misguided. Money from business always comes with an agenda – if only to deliver a product. The arts cannot be product-led. The artist needs the financial freedom to experiment and fail if that is how it goes. Only public money comes without strings and gives the artist the necessary freedom. A Labour government urgently needs to fund the arts council adequately and redefine its brief. We desperately need to free the artist and arts organisations from the obligation to produce to a preset agenda. This will bring a renewed spirit of creativity and, in its turn, renewed financial independence for artists and arts organisations. Shamelessly, Conservative governments have also removed the arts from the core curriculum. This is the stupidest of doctrinaire policies. We cannot continue to educate our children to be exploited as fodder for profit. Salaried slaves to global capitalism. It used to be that an education was only considered an education when it was an education in theatre, in painting, in dance, in literature. Maths and science alone won’t do. Let us once again free our children to be who they must be. The arts show a way. I call on the new Labour government to be bold – to fund the arts and define a new age of daring creative action.
Sharon D Clarke, Actor and Singer
The UK has one of the lowest levels of government spending on culture among European nations. Engaging with the arts supports our health and wellbeing. Hackney Empire in London ran a community choir. We had to get testimonials of wellbeing from our members to apply for funding from various charities and core community local government funding. These testimonials showed how vital it was for them to have a creative outlet and how that lifted their wellbeing. We had several doctors and our members were from all walks of life. During the pandemic, EU member states quickly provided measures to support cultural institutions, big and small and artists. Before providing any support for us, the last government told us as an industry to retrain. Don’t let us lose any more of our wonderful, talented, creative, artists and spaces. Art is the soul of society. Holding up mirrors, it connects, entertains, elevates, educates and inspires. Give the arts your wholehearted support.
Saskia Reeves, Actor
Dear Sir Keir, I know you have voiced your intention to do something about increasing the arts in state school education. You must invest the money. Drama encourages imaginative thinking and creative learning. It has for too long been misplaced within English. Children of all ages need the experience of expressing themselves through drama, using their voices and their bodies. This form of expression can bring so much enjoyment and many life skills, even if they never consider becoming actors. It is exciting to learn words and to improvise – to make theatre using their lived experiences, or with the words others have written. Please stand by your commitment.
Rufus Norris, Director and Co-Chief Executive, National Theatre
Every child should have access to high quality creative education, and the National Theatre’s learning programmes are in every local authority across the UK. The government’s national curriculum review provides a golden and urgent opportunity to embed that creativity – boosting self-confidence and providing skills for life and work. Meanwhile, 30% of jobs in the creative sector are vacant, due to specialist skills shortages. Together we need to ensure that the right training opportunities are supported to unlock the huge potential of our industry, so we can contribute to the economy and the people of this country.
Hari Kunzru, Author
What young artists need most is time and space. They need cheap rent and a way to keep food in their mouths while they spend most of their time doing something that many other people consider pointless or unproductive. We’ve had years of government by people who hate the arts, and don’t want to subsidise activities that feel subversive or critical. Yet the same people are also happy to laud Britain’s “soft power” or our “creative industries”. The new government needs to make it possible for young people to take risks and experiment, instead of fuelling the current nihilistic grindset mentality.
Jenny Sealey, Artistic Director, Graeae
Embrace and support the diversity of the arts and ensure that there is space for everyone. Invest more in the grassroots companies who make theatre that matters for people that matter. Bring the arts back into the school curriculum and enable schools to invest in the creative industry, bringing in artists to lead workshops. Tackle adult social care and ensure that personal independence payment remains a cash investment not a voucher scheme – the disabled community are not a Groupon product, we are real people. Make the Disability Students’ Allowance and Access to Work process more accessible to the people who need it. The arts, from a deaf and disabled artist perspective, will be enhanced when these are sorted.
Michael Winterbottom, Director
A few years ago I had the chance to interview 15 British independent film directors for a book for the BFI. All had success with their first films. But most had made fewer than a handful since. The system has to change to allow film-makers to continue to make independent films here in the UK. One quick, simple step that would cost the government nothing: make public bodies like Channel 4 and the BBC pay the same for independent films as they do for TV dramas. At the moment, they will pay around £1.5m for two hours of TV drama but might offer as little as £250,000 for a two-hour film. This is unfair and distorts the economics of low-budget film-making.
Sarah Perry, Author
Last year I was appointed chancellor of the University of Essex, so I’ve become horribly conscious of the arts being cut off at the root as higher education funding has been slashed. The Tory obsession with a utilitarian education has been as stupid as it is depressing, and the new government must restore the status of arts and humanities in our universities. It’s simply not the case that a degree in literature or theatre studies does not fit a student for the workplace, either in the arts or out of it: these subjects teach communication and analytical skills that are essential in any line of work.
Importance of Arts in Education
But more than this, students are not working parts in a machinery for the generation of taxable income: they are human souls, deserving of access to the beauty and transportation of the arts either in education or out of it. Finally: I suspect that those politicians who forced the decimation of the arts in universities prize their own tickets to Glyndebourne and the RSC. It was never “down with the arts”; it was always “not for the likes of you”. Now then, Lisa Nandy: what are you going to do about it?
John Boorman, Director
Film has more reach than other art forms so can readily spread the word and inform a popular movement or message. Film has a history of combining and presenting policies to convince the public of the necessity of change.
Amma Asante, Director
I want British films and film-makers to be able to hold their place on the international stage. Continuing to build strong relationships abroad is essential in developing and promoting our work, and for cross fertilisation of skills within our industry. So I’d like the government to continue with the commitment towards supporting British films that have an international appeal through the BFI and the UK Global Screen Fund. It’s also important to continue to build opportunities for training in Europe – opportunities previously fulfilled by the Creative Europe Media fund, particularly beyond 2027 when some current opportunities to apply will no longer be available due to Brexit.
Ian Livingstone, Co-Founder of Games Workshop and Eidos Interactive
Creativity gives the UK an edge as a nation. Our creative industries are the fastest growing industrial sector in the UK economy. But while UK film, TV, theatre, music, publishing, and video games are celebrated around the world, the teaching of the arts in school is often seen as a luxury, sacrificed in favour of more “rigorous” subjects which are deemed more important to get a “proper job”. This is a grave misunderstanding of cultural value. An authentic education for the digital world requires the government to evolve the curriculum, bringing the arts and sciences together to encourage innovation. Imagination is key to the “maker” generation – as Albert Einstein said, “imagination is more important than knowledge” – and the British video games industry is a poster child for the fusion of art and technology.
Meghna Jayanth, Video Game Writer and Narrative Designer
I would love the government to support the experimentation and innovation of indie games. Indie is the R&D engine of the wider games industry, where the work which will develop new audiences is being done – and the UK punches above its weight here. Instead of trying to compete on scale we should focus on encouraging creativity through investing in new talent, as well as retaining talent, through grants, funding and skills training to offset the precarity that cultural workers face.
Rou Reynolds, Frontman of Enter Shikari
The arts, as a whole, need to be taken more seriously again. The science is now clear on how important a creative outlet is for us, on how pivotal “play” is to our development, on how crucial community is to our wellbeing. And the arts, and music especially, provide on all these accounts. If we want to achieve a thriving, caring, safer and more imaginative society, we need a strong and supported cultural sector.
Cosey Fanni Tutti, Musician and Writer
The Labour government should urgently address a number of issues regarding the arts. Recognition of the importance of creative expression by including adequate provision in schools and curriculums to encourage young innovative artists and musicians. The loss of freedom of movement in the EU because of Brexit has been disastrous, for music in particular – fees for performing set against the cost of visas and carnets for independent musicians often make it unaffordable, resulting in loss of work and opportunities, some giving up a music career (an exchange programme could help). Provide financial support for small UK venues. Resolve the practice of shockingly low fees paid to musicians by streaming services, sometimes their only source of income.
Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Children’s Laureate
Our children have borne the brunt of the twin catastrophes – austerity and the pandemic. As a matter of justice and urgency we should turn our attention to them, and in particular to the early years. For years this country has behaved like it doesn’t have a future. But the future is standing there in crumbling classrooms and homes squeezed by the cost of living crisis, just waiting for you to notice it. Morally, emotionally, and fiscally if you want to make the biggest possible difference, consider the early years before it’s too late.
AJ Tracey, Rapper
I’m struggling to align myself with one party this year as I don’t feel any of the options we have are sufficient. Since Labour are in power, I urge them to bring about a ceasefire. Until this happens, I don’t feel I’m able to get on board and even begin to think about what the arts need on a wider level. On a human level, we need a ceasefire in Gaza. Now.
Nikesh Shukla, Author and Screenwriter
I watched with horror as the Conservatives sabotaged the arts, through ideological attacks on their importance, and a lack of public funding. It has meant that the arts have increasingly looked to private companies for money; fossil fuel companies and companies arming the Israeli government now exploit the arts to launder their reputations. Public funding can be the intervention we need. What I want to see from Labour is a radical approach, not just to the arts, but to the country as a whole. I don’t want a managing of the status quo. I want circuit-breaking ideas that put value back into the arts, through funding, through celebration of their importance, and through centralising them in education.
Geoff Dyer, Writer
There’s a lot of rubbish art around but just as it’s impossible to fund only good art – you can only build the pile out of which the best emerges – so I would broaden things out further and not make a special case for the arts. I see the issue as enabling ways of granting opportunities to people who may turn into artists or musicians or something else entirely. I was born in 1958 and what Raymond Williams wrote then, in Culture is Ordinary, still holds good today (if we with change “man’s” to “person’s”): “We must emphasise not the ladder but the common highway, for every man’s ignorance diminishes me, and every man’s skill is a common gain of breath.”
Annilese Miskimmon, Artistic Director, English National Opera
I hope this government shares with the sector an ambitious confidence in the transformational power of the arts – and funds culture nationwide accordingly. A life of meaning doesn’t happen by accident – it needs intentional nurturing from childhood to old age. Art unlocks collaboration, self-expression, and potential in a complex world. It is vital to understanding ourselves as people and as a society, both at home and in the eyes of the world. It is a democratic essential, not an indulgence.
author Guardian Staff