Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (): We are a nation of
storytellers. Through literature, television, film, music,
fashion, dance and drama, through our galleries, our libraries
and our museums, we light up the world. In a time when it feels
we have lost our ability to understand one another, the arts are
an essential force for good in a divided nation and our gift to a
troubled world.
But in this last, lost decade the arts has been treated as an
unaffordable luxury, or worse - a nuisance or a weapon for
governments in their ongoing, exhausting culture wars. Culture
and creativity have been erased from too many classrooms and
communities, the routes for working class artists and performers
have narrowed almost to the point of extinction and the
contribution of most of us, in places with a proud history of
culture and contribution, has been written off. As a result, too
many of us no longer see ourselves reflected in the story we tell
ourselves, about ourselves, as a nation.
An inclusive national story doesn't mean making movies where posh
boys play gangsters. It means harnessing the strength of our
nation. The extraordinary diversity of our people, places,
traditions and disciplines – across ballet, northern soul, opera
and street art - that creates one of the most vibrant,
sought-after artistic scenes in the world, drawing on the
contribution of the whole nation and all the people in it. All of
us deserve the chance to be part of it and in turn we need all of
us to sustain it.
We have put arts back at the centre of the curriculum, worked
with our national institutions to bring collections out of the
basement and into our communities and launched a new town of
culture contest to recognise the cultural contribution of our
whole country.
We have announced the biggest capital uplift to the arts in a
generation so that the battle to keep the lights on and the doors
open for institutions – especially outside of London - is no
longer the struggle it has been for so long.
But we are impatient for change and our country deserves more.
That is why I asked of Barking to review the
role of the Arts Council to ensure this most precious
institution, founded by a visionary generation who put arts and
culture at the heart of our efforts to rebuild a nation after
war, can thrive for generations to come.
We are convinced her vision will help us to anchor our arts in
our people and places and help us to recover our sense of
self-confidence as a nation and turn outwards to the world.
That is why we are accepting every recommendation made by the
Hodge Review.
This is not a licence for business as usual. For so long arts
organisations have had to exist day to day, focusing on
protecting and preserving our institutions. We will work with
them to rebuild the foundations but in return ask them to blow
the doors off, to become anchors in our communities, enable
access to excellence everywhere and provide the chance for every
person in our country to live richer, larger lives.
This Government believes that the arts are for everyone,
everywhere. We know this vision is shared by people across the
country and together, through the actions outlined in this
report, we will write the next chapter in our nation's story.
I will place a copy of the government response(opens in a
new tab) in the libraries of both Houses.
