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Dateline: 18th May, 2010
Hunt Makes Arts Keynote Speech In his first public speech since taking office as Culture Secretary, Jermey Hunt told an audience at the Roundhouse that this was, for him, a "risky moment". "As I look at the public spending round that lies ahead," he said, "I do feel a bit of “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” – what Henry IV said when he had insomnia and what I rather feel when I consider the responsibilities involved. "I am totally passionate about arts and culture in our country. It is the most incredible privilege to do what I am doing and I am unbelievably excited. "For me culture is not just about the economic value of our creative industries – It is what defines us as a civilisation. Culture helps us understand the world around us, explain it, and sometimes escape from it – as Picasso put it: “washing the dust of daily life from our souls." He spoke of going to see Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre, which he said "represents a powerful symbol of British cultural life operating at its best. "It was developed using a mixture of public and private investment; it came from a small, publicly-funded stage in Sloane Square then transferring to the commercial sector and bringing money back into the publicly-funded theatre that nurtured it." He intends to place an order before Parliament in September that could see arts, heritage and sport each receiving an extra £50 million a year. Under the order, the share of money going to each of the arts, heritage and sport good causes will increase to 20% and the Big Lottery Fund will receive the remaining 40%. He also proposes that the Big Lottery Fund will focus its support exclusively on the voluntary and community sectors. "I want to get the Lottery back to how it was originally conceived,” he said. “The lottery was set up to fund grassroots initiatives, not as a pot of money for Ministers to dip into. "It is a change," he went on, "that will happen progressively between now and 2012." He said that said three key principles would underpin future policy:
"There will," he warned, "be in-year cuts in the budget and a tough public spending settlement for the next three years. But what I can promise you is this: culture will not be singled out as a soft target. "I congratulate the Arts Council who will reduce their operating costs to 6.6% this year – meaning savings of £6.5 million. "But I want all of us to go even further, which is why I am asking all grant-giving organisations to reduce their admin costs to 5% of the budgets they distribute. "We must be able to look artists and arts organisations in the eye and assure them that no grants have been withdrawn because too much money is getting lost in the system." He wants to make private giving to arts and culture easier by:
"Even in the face of the recession," he said, "private sector support for culture totalled £655 million last year. To all those who give to culture, whatever the size of your donations, I want to say thank you. "In fact, I have today written to the country’s top 200 cultural donors to thank them for what they have done and ask for their advice as to how we can nurture more giving. "Less than 3% of charitable giving in this country goes to cultural bodies, too many of whom are still constrained by their dependence on public subsidy. And only 8% of cultural organisations have a legacy programme, so much more can be done. "And I particularly want to help smaller organisations to help themselves by strengthening fundraising capacity across the cultural sector." Referring to cultural education, he said, "We need to win the argument with the education establishment that music and art education is not simply something that is 'nice to do if you can'. Not just a distraction from literacy and numeracy targets, but something to help you achieve literacy and numeracy targets. "Research has shown that learning to play an instrument actually enhances the ability to remember words, meaning that musically trained students can remember 17% more verbal information that those without musical training. "Working with Michael Gove, I want to ensure that the superb cultural offer available in some of our state schools is available in them all. "We have also suffered in arts education from a plethora of well-meaning initiatives. "So we will aim for a simpler, more streamlined approach which recognises the need for a disciplined approach to the acquisition of skills as the foundation of creativity."
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