18 Bido Lito! <strong>May</strong> <strong>2015</strong> more autonomy to develop sponsored revenue. It’s about being creative. It’s also about finding other ways to generate income.” The zero-sum economy that has emerged from austerity demands that the arts demonstrate the quantifiable value they provide. In the face of stiff competition for diminishing public funds, the arts are now expected to state their case alongside basic services such as health, education and public administration. With this in mind, we canvassed the views of the respective UK parties on how they rate the economic contribution of arts and culture, and what they would do to ensure that thriving, non-London-based creative communities are funded in parity with those in the capital. Tragically, the Conservative and UKIP representatives we contacted decided not to respond, so we posed the following questions to some Green Party candidates, a Labour MP and a Liberal life peer: Question 1 - Arts and culture generate more per-pound invested than the health, wholesale and retail, and professional and business services sectors. How do your parties’ policies value and sustain this return? Question 2 - Public Arts spending in the capital is 15 times higher than in the rest of the UK. What would your party do to re-address this London bias? Particularly, with regards to cultural activities in our region. LABOUR On 23rd April <strong>2015</strong>, Ed Miliband boldly affirmed that Labour would put “arts policy at the heart of government”. On balance, they do have a credible history on arts and culture: free entrance to museums, ensuring fair access and trebling Arts Council funding demonstrated their commitment to the imperative “the arts must be a right for all”. STEVE ROTHERAM incumbent Labour MP for Walton, shares a proven track record on the issue. Rotherham, shaped by his experience as Lord <strong>May</strong>or of Liverpool during the 2008 ECOC, views culture in relation to its value to tourism, believing them to be “co-dependent”: "Tourism is extremely important to local economies with 3.1 million jobs and 9% of GDP being generated via the sector. Tourism can also be used as a catalyst for the physical transformation of an area. With proper planning there can be long-term regeneration, as well as short-term economic benefits." Enhancing cultural tourism through cross-sector collaboration is obviously going to be key to making the most out of dwindling public subsidy. Rotherham’s views are equally pragmatic on the issue of funding imbalance: “London receives more grant in aid than the rest of the country put together and additionally benefits from almost £9 in every £10 of philanthropic giving. London needs to do a lot more to assist secondary destinations and we would ensure there is a joinedup approach and improved linkages between regions so that international visitors to London are made aware of the offer from other parts of the country.” LIBERAL DEMOCRATS Like Labour, the Liberal Democrats tend to prioritise fair access with regards to arts and culture, taking a specific party interest in education and supporting the creative industries. However, on the face of it, they mustered few achievements in coalition, beyond the modest victory in the disclosure of Government Art Collections. To improve our understanding, we interviewed MIKE STOREY, who became a life peer in 2010, speaking on behalf of the party for education, arts and regeneration matters in the Lords. He immediately acknowledged the economic return of the sector, asserting “arts and culture account for 0.4% of GDP.” Lord Storey, a head teacher before entering politics through Liverpool City Council, states: "We’ve got to encourage the nurturing of interest in creative subjects at school. There’s a great danger that creative subjects will become lost if schools don't focus on them; that would be a huge pity. It’s important that schools who have a creative bent feel they can pursue that without being penalised by doing so.” His concern arrives on the heels of dramatic falls in the number of students taking GCSEs in craft-related subjects, and reflects a cross-party consensus towards supporting intersection between arts and education. Lord Storey also elaborates on his parties’ inclinations towards supporting creative businesses: "The manufacturing industries have a manufacturing advice service; we as a party would want to see the same for the creative industries. This service would be and could be funded jointly by government and industry.” Since the creative industries have effectively replaced the manufacturing industries, an industrial strategy is a welcome proposal. Lord Storey is more philosophical about re-balancing the London-centric funding issue: "We don’t want to see the funding stop for some of our national institutions, so we would identify those and the remaining funding needs to be more equitably distributed... We would want to keep entry to [regional] museums and art galleries free but give them GREEN In sharp contrast, the Green party have pinned perhaps the greatest significance on their commitment to arts funding, seeking policies that “promote the widest participation in culture.” Not ones to underestimate the value of the sector, the Green party view arts and culture as “essential for the future development of the human race”. Indeed, the arts may have found their political champions. JULIAN PRATT, Green party parliamentary candidate for Wallasey, affirms the party’s intentions for progressive reform of the sector: "As examples of our short- to mid-term policies we would encourage the growth of local arts associations made up of practising artists; we would modify the licensing regulations to ensure that small-scale live performance in pubs, clubs and similar venues is not stifled; and we would zero-rate live performance for VAT purposes." The Green party are clearly optimistic about what they could achieve for the sector in the interim, but the most winsome piece of their arts strategy is a long-term policy to devolve responsibility for arts funding from regional to local levels; in essence “democratising arts funding”. PAUL CARTLIDGE, a Green party parliamentary candidate for Wirral South, is indicative of the culturally-endowed candidates the party are fielding, practising as an actor, producer and musician. Cartlidge draws on his involvement with Birkenhead’s Little Theatre to determine that: "the regions must have their budgets increased to match London's. After all, a lot of London talent finds its feet in the regions. And I would like to see government grants to London Arts requiring that London galleries and shows leave the capital more often and tour the regions so we can all share in the artistic experience." CONSERVATIVE The Conservatives have, to their credit, balanced harsh spending cuts with increased Lottery Funding to the arts. However, their continued onus on improving “philanthropic giving” is symptomatic of a Victorian mentality towards state subsidy; one that serves only to inflate the mismatch of Londoncentric funding. UKIP Meanwhile, UKIP are predictably unabashed in ending the “failed policy of multi-culturalism”. If elected, Mike Read’s UKIP Calypso would presumably be used to spearhead the campaign, at the expense of public funding. The Creative Industries Federation recently streamed a Cultural Debate live from The Royal Opera House. In a moment that captured the essence of why arts and culture funding access should be primary to voter concerns, Liberal Democrat Baroness Bonham-Carter paraphrased Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, and hit upon a tellingly prescient point: “Rather than the manufactured clash of civilisations, we need to concentrate on the slow working together of cultures that overlap, borrow from each other, and live together.” If you want to find out anything about this year’s General Election, head to aboutmyvote.co.uk. bidolito.co.uk
B “ tiger tiger burning bright, in the forest of the night “ seel street liverpool may <strong>2015</strong>