Jeremy Corbyn pledges a "cultural renaissance" with new charter for the arts

Jeremy Corbyn will be joined by a host of music, film and theatre stars in London on Sunday night to launch Labour's new charter for the arts. He will commit to put support for the arts at “the heart of Government” promising £1bn of new investment in a renewed Cultural Strategy.

Labour’s ‘Arts for All’ policy charter will set out a comprehensive programme of support for Britain’s arts and culture sector, promising to radically expand access and increase funding for the arts.

Jeremy Corbyn will be supported at the Theatre Royal Stratford East by Emeli Sandé, Mark Rylance, Lily Allen, MIA, Clean Bandit and Ken Loach alongside an array of special guests.

Labour's new charter for the arts sets out ambitious plans to:

• Invest £1billion to transform the UK’s cultural landscape by upgrading and building new libraries, museums, galleries and arts venues across the country
• Invest £175 million a year in an arts pupil premium to give every primary school student in the country access to creative and cultural experiences
• Launch a new ‘Town of Culture’ competition
• Invest £1 billion in Youth Services
• Maintain free access to national museums and galleries
• Introduce greater transparency in lottery funding and ensure grants are shared out fairly between all our communities 

Research by the House of Commons library has shown that libraries, museums and art galleries across England have had their funding slashed by at least £640m since 2010.

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The arts are a common inheritance that make our society culturally richer and put a smile on all our faces. We must cherish them and protect them.

“Labour’s national strategy for the arts will embrace our rich cultural heritage from William Shakespeare to Ben Okri, Mary Quant to Tim Berners-Lee, delivering a national cultural renaissance.

“The Government I lead will ensure that every child has the opportunity to access the arts, learn a musical instrument and develop their creativity.

“Proper funding for the arts will be central to Labour’s commitment in Government to enable people to lead more enjoyable and fulfilling lives” 

Emeli Sande, said:

“The arts are so important to our culture, our identity and our communities. Every child, whatever their background, should be able to enjoy the fundamentals in life and the access to the arts is crucial to that.

“I’m proud to give my support to the pledge to give every child the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and develop their creativity.”

Mark Rylance, said:

“I'm really thrilled by this new Charter for the Arts that Jeremy Corbyn has announced.

“From my experience, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell clearly love the arts and are moved by the arts.

“Jeremy Corbyn means what he says when he wants things to be fairer in our society and his love of Shakespeare is very encouraging.”

Lily Allen, said:

“The idea that we’ll have access to more galleries and theatres and that children will be able to learn a musical instrument is crucial. The policies Jeremy Corbyn is setting out to achieve it are huge.

“This new Charter for the Arts is just amazing. I back it one hundred percent.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

• Council funds for libraries, museums and galleries have been cut by at least £640 million since 2010.

Source: House of Commons Library

Labour’s £1 billion investment, paid for through the new Social Transformation Fund, will represent a huge investment in cultural infrastructure after years of cuts have seen the closure of hundreds of libraries, museums, galleries and music and grassroots venues. The money will fund:

Modernising public libraries – this could fund up to 195 library refurbishment and 400 IT refits

• Opening up grassroots venues and refurbishing old ones – this could fund up to 750 upgrades at small venues, approximately 2 per local authority area

• New instruments for schools – this could fund up to 500,000 instruments including adapted instruments for disabled children

• Renewing museums and galleries – this could fund up to 90 renewal projects at museums or galleries

• Providing creative spaces for community arts groups such as bands, pottery clubs, choirs – this could fund grants to up to 500 community spaces

Labour’s £175m a year Arts pupil premium pledge will be modelled on the sports pupil premium and will be available to all primary schools, with funding based on the number of pupils in years 1 to 6. Schools could use the premium to fund:

• at least one free visit to an arts destination every year,
• hiring arts specialists to work alongside teachers to enhance or extend current opportunities
• partnering with other schools to run after-school arts activities and clubs
• improving creative resources in schools (e.g stages, instruments, arts supplies), to help close the gap in creative resources between state-funded and private schools.

• Labour’s pledge to launch a new ‘town of culture’ competition follows the enormous success of the ‘City of Culture’ competition that was launched by the last Labour government. Hull’s recent tenure was UK City of Culture was an outstanding success. Attracting a total audience of 5.3 million attending over 2,800 events, 95% of residents attended at least one cultural activity during the year and nearly 800 new jobs have been created in the visitor economy and cultural sector since Hull was awarded UK City of Culture status 2013. Under a Labour Government, the UK’s towns will also be able to share in this success with one town awarded the title for the period of one year, every four years.

• Labour has pledged to make ticket sales transparency a condition of the next lottery licence holder and ensure lottery grant distribution fairer. At the moment there is no published data showing where lottery tickets are bought, leading to a serious concern that many poorer areas, such as the coalfield areas of the midlands and North East, get far less back in grants than they contribute through buying lottery tickets. Research from GPS culture found that the West Midlands combined authority area received £360m less in funds for good causes than the region contributed through ticket sales between 2010-2017.

• Labour has announced an additional £1 billion in annual revenue expenditure for youth services, twenty times the £50 million previously announced by the last government. This will build a properly funded, professionally staffed National Youth Service, and will guarantee every young person has access to local, high-quality youth work. This is fully costed in our ‘Funding Real Change’ grey book.

• The National Cultural Strategy seeks to build on the work set out in Jennie Lee’s visionary 1965 white paper ‘A Policy for the Arts: First Steps.’