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Dateline: 25th June, 2008
"The Natural Party of the Arts" The Tories are the "natural party of the arts", shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has said in a speech in which he gave some indications of what arts policies the party would follow if they became the government. Cutting down on arts bureaucracy is high on his list of priorities. £100m a year for the last four years has been spent by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, ACE, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund, he said, so that only 88p out of every £1 given by the government actually reaches arts organisations. With proper control, he said, "the money would have been there to continue funding every single one of the 158 arts organisations that had their grants withdrawn in January." One of the party's main policies, he said, would be to encourage private giving to the arts, with with tax breaks, making the recognition of benefactors easier for arts organistions and rewarding philanthropists and volunteers in the honours system. However he did say that this would not be at the expense of public funding: "different types of giving do different jobs," he said. "It is unlikely private funding would ever support the creative risk taking at somewhere like the National Theatre, for example. But equally it is difficult to see the State backing a promising young violinist in a way that an individual philanthropist would do." He added that there needed to be a "debate" about how the Arts Council should work alomngside the DCMS. "It is not," he said, "a debate designed to undermine the arts council, but one I hope will lead to its renewal." He did not rule out the possibility of large arts organisations being directly funded by government - a proposal he called "interesting - indeed radical" - but reiterated his support generally for the arms-length principle. The Lottery would also be protected by Act of Parliament from being "raided" by politicians for what he called "pet projects". Speaking in general terms about the arts under Labour, he acknowledged "their willingness to highlight the wider benefits of the arts to issues like regeneration and education; increased funding from the Exchequer; and free museums." However, he went on to say, "With Chris Smith heavily under the influence of people like Francois Matarasso there was enormous emphasis on the social impact of art. It was a new insight, but it also led to a crippling targets and performance culture which completely ignored the basic truth that great art simply cannot be measured. "Under James Purnell DCMS signalled a radical move back towards the intrinsic agenda. That was overdue, but we must be careful not to overlook the enormous social benefits of a progressive arts policy. It would be a serious step back for arts to be put “back in a box” which considered the arts only of value to those who enjoy them. "So a future Conservative government will move on from that debate, accepting both the intrinsic value of the arts and also the social impact of an enlightened arts policy." You can read the entire speech on the Shadow DCMS website.
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