Artistic Funding: A Two-Tier System or an Integrated Approach
The art world is bristling with opinions following Nicholas Hytner’s provocative suggestion for the establishment of an expert body to oversee arts funding in the UK, similar to Sport England. His call to action in The Guardian has ignited discussions among artists and arts administrators alike, proposing a new approach to arts funding, focusing on participation and placing the arts back into schools. Yet, this suggestion is not without its critics.
Hytner argues that the arts in Britain are in a precarious situation due to reduced government support and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nicholas Hytner, writing in The Guardian, highlights that while government funding was once plentiful and fostered a flourishing arts scene, today’s arts organisations and freelance artists are struggling to stay afloat. A lack of financial security, along with restrictions on artists’ right to work freely in the EU, has led many to abandon their professions. Despite the government’s £1.6bn Culture Recovery Fund, which helped prevent a total collapse during the pandemic, the arts sector has been left without sufficient support to recover fully.
Hytner also criticises the wide remit of the Arts Council, which is expected to nurture individual creativity, ensure access to high-quality cultural experiences, and support professional artists, all with insufficient funding. He points out that the total grant provided to the Arts Council England is £458.5m, less than 0.05% of all government spending. Doubling this amount, he argues, would not significantly impact national finances, but could transform the arts sector, boosting artist productivity and confidence, audience size and enthusiasm, and community wellbeing, while also enhancing town and city centres and the UK’s international reputation.
Drawing on the structure of sports funding in the UK, Hytner proposes a similar dual model for the arts. He suggests the creation of a new funding body to focus on participation in the arts, supporting new community-based initiatives, established education and outreach programmes, and re-establishing the arts in schools. This would allow the Arts Council to refocus its efforts on supporting professional artists and their work, potentially leading to a rejuvenation of the UK’s arts scene.
Leading figures in the arts community, such as Jamie Hale, Richard Eyre, and Chris Hodgkins, have countered Hytner’s proposition, pointing out perceived flaws and possible negative impacts. They engaged in a thoughtful dialogue on the Guardian’s letters page, raising concerns about the potential consequences of Hytner’s proposal. The critique of Nicholas Hytner’s plan to save the performing arts in the UK is articulated in three responses to his proposal published in the Guardian.
Jamie Hale, founder of a disability arts organisation, challenges Hytner’s concept of dividing arts into “community” and “professional” categories. Hale suggests that some of the most innovative art comes from community and non-professional spaces, and that stratifying the arts and culture sector can risk stagnation. Hale also expresses concern that isolating the art created by “professional artists” could regress the sector’s diversity, limiting it mainly to individuals who have had the privilege to navigate this uncertain sector. Hale proposes that the arts need to be saved through investment in arts education and unifying, rather than separating, community and professional work【86†source】.
Richard Eyre, while generally supportive of Hytner’s plan, adds that any such plan should also include investment in educational initiatives to cultivate a future audience for the arts. Eyre reflects on his past conversation with Jeremy Hunt, the then shadow Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, discussing the necessity of funding arts education to ensure a future for the arts.
Chris Hodgkins critiques Hytner’s proposal to replace Arts Council England (ACE) with a two-tier system, stating it is just as flawed as the current system. Hodgkins argues that the challenges facing the arts in the UK are deeper and broader than just dance, opera, and classical music. Hodgkins criticises ACE for neglecting its responsibility towards the arts and for having a flawed funding system and operational plan. Hodgkins calls for an audit of ACE by the National Audit Office, suggesting that the current use of lottery funds is scandalous and should be directed towards funding touring, artistic projects, and supporting the work of artists instead.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing rebuttals came from Francois Matarasso, who presented a thoughtful examination of the issue on his blog, A Restless Art. He argues that many people in the arts hold an “unshakeable belief” that community work cannot meet the high artistic standards set by professional artists. According to Matarasso, this view sees the world divided between ‘Us and Them,’ which creates an uncomfortable divide in the artistic community.
Francois Matarasso makes several key points in his article “A Selfless Art.” Firstly, he observes that participatory art and co-creation practices often perpetuate a division between “us” and “them.” This division exists between those who hold power, knowledge, and control over artistic decisions and those who are affected by those decisions. Matarasso argues that artists engaged in co-creation operate in the borderlands between these two groups, understanding both perspectives.
Matarasso criticizes Nicholas Hytner’s plan to save the arts in Britain, which he believes further reinforces the division between the arts world’s elite and the wider community. Hytner suggests creating a new body to focus on community-based initiatives while allowing the Arts Council to concentrate on financing the work of professional artists. Matarasso sees this as a perpetuation of an old model that fails to recognize the interconnectedness and diversity of artistic expression.
Matarasso also highlights historical examples of similar thinking, such as the class-based approach to arts funding during the Second World War and the Arts Council’s resistance to community art in the past. Matarasso argues that this divisive mindset, which perceives community work as inferior to professional art, is flawed politically, morally, and artistically. He emphasizes that art is not a binary distinction between professional and non-professional, but rather a vast network of diverse creative expressions that enrich humanity as a whole.
Matarasso concludes that drawing borders and creating divisions within this interconnected network of artistic expression only leads to conflict. He advocates for a more inclusive and integrated approach to art, where the diversity of creative expressions is valued and explored without hierarchical distinctions.
My input into this lively debate was the suggestion of an integrated, universal system to challenge both national and community arts. Drawing from experience, I expressed concern that a two-tier system could marginalize community arts and damage the link between excellence and accessibility.
As we delve further into this debate, the proposal to bring some Artworks Alliance members together to discuss this issue seems apt. This will give us a chance to establish our stance, contemplate how we might influence the policies of an incoming Labour Government, and share our ideas via a podcast for wider consumption.
Of course, we must not forget that the experiences of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with their differing approaches, can provide valuable insights. The dominance of Whitehall, which has replaced the devolved arts budgets that many local authorities used to offer, is not the only approach to arts administration.
To further our discourse on this issue, we have started setting up a podcast feed on the AWA website. This will allow us to record discussions via Google Meeting or Zoom and make them available through the usual channels.
What are your thoughts on these proposals? What do you think would be the best approach to arts funding in the UK? Can we find a way to avoid creating a division between the community and professional arts, while also encouraging participation and re-establishing the arts in schools?
These are just some of the questions this discourse has brought to light, and as we continue to delve into this issue, we look forward to hearing more diverse viewpoints from across the artistic community. Your perspectives will help shape our understanding of this issue and our approach moving forward.
