Writing on the wall

There can no longer be any doubt that the structure of the professional arts sector as we know it is on the cusp of significant change. The writing is all over the wall: the Government appoints a Culture Secretary with no interest in the arts; Arts Council England (ACE) has been told to cut itself in half; Simon Mellor, ACE’s Director of arts and strategy, has warned of possible cuts before the next public spending round; and ACE is now openly exhorting arts organisations to place fundraising at the heart of not just their business models, but also their “ethos” . As central public funding continues to dwindle we can most likely expect regular funding to be restricted to the privileged few, leaving the Lottery, local authorities, philanthropists and audiences to pick up rest of the tab. Under this scenario many arts organisations could be joining the hand-to-mouth universe with which, ironically, artists are only too familiar. Organisations attempting to make the most of their own dwindling resources by pushing costs onto artists should take note – the law of karma will surely apply. Indeed, there is probably a lot that arts organisations could learn from artists for whom survival in an unfunded world has become an artform in itself.

But the gloom of funding cuts almost pales into insignificance in comparison with the horror that is the proposed arts-free English Baccalaureate (EBacc). The artistic impulse will never be snuffed out by lack of cash, but lack of education could deal it an almost fatal blow. Linda Jasper makes a powerful plea for placing dance at the heart of England’s qualification framework, and her words could be echoed in drama, music, and art and design. Hytner, Serota and other usual suspects have managed to make the headlines with their call for arts subjects to become core subjects when ‘English Baccalaureate Certificates’ (EBCs) are created to replace GCSEs. But arguably they have a vested interest and by being on the front page of The Guardian (3/11/12) are merely preaching to the converted. Only when business leaders and bankers start telling the Government that the arts are not the fluffy add-on to a rounded education that is implied by their exclusion can we expect Michael Gove to re-think. If we see the same arguments being published on p1 of the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times, then the arts might just be in with a chance.