Support the Arts in Somerset

We can't trust the coalition with culture – as Somerset's looming funding wipeout reveals

Ivan Lewis - The Guardian Tuesday 9th November 2010

The prospect of a 100% cut to direct grants to the county's arts organisations shows the dangers of the government's strategy


Tomorrow morning Somerset county council will decide whether it will cut 100% of its direct grants to the arts, amounting to roughly half its total cultural spend. This is the earliest example of why the coalition's spin, that cuts to arts organisations' budgets will be limited to 15%, is a cruel deception.

The 30% cut to the Arts Council budget means some organisations will lose all their public funding within two years, while others will experience cuts well beyond 15%. Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey have not only failed to fight for a proportionate cut to the arts budget they control at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), but they have also been silent on the swingeing 27% cuts to local authority budgets and the abolition of regional development agencies, both of which mean public funding for the arts is at serious risk of meltdown. By frontloading its own cuts, the DCMS has put arts organisations in the position where they will struggle to find alternative sources of funding or have time to adapt.

The extra lottery money promised by the government, an estimated £40m, represents a drop in the ocean compared with the scale of the cuts that now seem inevitable. Alongside these threats, the government's withdrawal of teaching support funding for arts-related degrees represents a devastating blow to the long-term vitality of our creative industries.

The situation in Somerset merits scrutiny in the context of the choices other local authorities face in the weeks and months ahead. Arts organisations in Somerset have accepted the need to make cuts. But cutting this budget in one fell swoop is a short-sighted approach from which it will take the sector many years to recover. It also ignores the significant contribution of the arts to economic growth. The National Campaign for the Arts estimates that every £1 of grant given to the arts brings a fifteen-fold return in investment into the county – a £3.75m contribution. The creative industries in Somerset employ more than 8,000 people with an annual turnover greater than £345m. This economic argument would stand, even if the arts development budget wasn't reported to be £159,000 – 0.0004% of the Council's overall expenditure. Cutting this amount from the budget will do little to reduce the council's deficit, in other words, yet it will have a damaging effect on Somerset's cultural enrichment.

Nor is this just about Somerset. At a national level, ministers need to be honest about the scale of the cuts that are going to hit arts organisations across the country, and develop a strategy to ensure that we do not destroy an infrastructure that has taken years to build up. Where is their plan for increased philanthropic and private sector support?

Maintaining some level of stability in publicly funded arts should have been a key element of a growth strategy that recognised the role of the sector in fuelling the creative industries. The cuts run the danger of destroying the progress of the past decade in opening up art for all, supporting creativity in schools and making a major contribution to the regeneration of our towns and cities. Before the election, Messrs Hunt and Vaizey sought to persuade the arts world that the Conservatives had truly changed by producing a weekly newsletter, demonstrating their support and appreciation of the arts. Perhaps this week's edition should be headlined "Our broken promises".

• Ivan Lewis is a Labour MP and shadow culture, media and sport secretary

You might have read in the local press that Frome Town Council will not fund the Cheese and Grain charity, which runs the Cheese and Grain building, from April 2011.  This means that the charity will not be able to meet the running costs of the building as it does not make enough money to do so.  

There is an understanding that Frome Town Council will want to take-over the building with the intention of continuing operations.   We must help the Town Council to understand how valuable the Cheese and Grain is as a music, market and special events venue and a community hall.  We can show our support for the Cheese and Grain by becoming members of the Cheese and Grain.

visit website  www.cheeseandgrain.co.uk  click on about us and click on becoming a volunteer or member button,  click on membership pack ( red tag line) on the bottom of the page

 

I wonder if it would be useful when writing/speaking about the proposed cuts to speak collectively of the Creative industry in Frome being the Town's primary USP (unique selling point) both for tourism and regional visiting? If we see the town as a 'business' this terminology is very easy to understand and very difficult to argue against. Any business that stops promoting it's USP will soon be dead in the water.

Just a thought.

Freya
 

Please find a copy of my email to alvin horsfall below
Cllr Alvin Horsfall
Frome South

Tuesday 2 November 2010


Dear Alvin Horsfall,

I am writing to you to urge you to vote against the 100% arts budget cuts, including the library budget cuts, in the scheduled full council meeting. As you know in Frome the arts in all their variety make an outstanding contribution to our towns economic, social and cultural diversity. It is the variety of all art forms on offer in Frome which makes such a vibrant and exciting place to live in. As you also know, the creative industries are the ones which continued to grow during the recession and which contribute enormously to Somerset's attractiveness as a tourist destination. It would be a shame, if creative people and organisations were, due to funding cuts, no longer able to contribute to the range of regionaland local festivals and events.

Yours sincerely,

Gerlinde

P.S  in the spirit of mutual support, could I ask you to join the Cheese  & Grain  Trust as member. visit www.cheeseandgrain.co.uk  click on about us, scroll down to becoming a member or volunteer.  Scroll down the page and click on the r4ed tag line at the bottom.

thank you so much

Gerlinde