Debbonaire unveils National Culture Infrastructure Plan

Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debbonaire has revealed the Labour Party will bring forward a National Culture Infrastructure Plan if it is in government after the next general election.

Speaking at the party’s conference in Liverpool yesterday (9 October), Debbonaire said the plan, entitled Space to Create, will “fire up the engines of our creative economy”.

In a speech that promised a future Labour government would be the creative industries’ “national champion squarely in their corner fighting for them” – and accused the Conservatives of spending “more time talking about culture wars than culture” – the MP for Bristol West said Labour would put the creative industries “right at the heart of our plan for economic growth”.

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As part of the National Culture Infrastructure Plan, Labour would create a National Culture Infrastructure Map of all the cultural spaces across the UK.

The map would act a resource for a Labour-led Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but would also help local leaders, businesses and philanthropists be “better able to spot cultural spaces at risk and opportunities for investment and development,” Debbonaire said.

She added the map would give “space to create teams around the country providing guidance, training, learning and networking to give creative businesses a stronger footing.”.

Debbonaire also spoke of the need for cultural spaces to be available right across the UK.

“For everyone to feel the benefits, we need to have the right creative spaces in the right places. Across our rural areas and towns, as well as in our cities. In the north and the south as bedrocks of our communities, bringing life back to our high streets,” she said.

She set out a vision of more studios, animation and gaming workshops, art centres, pub theatres, music venues, cinemas and nightclubs “right across the country”.

“Because culture should be for everyone, no matter who you are or where you live.”

Renewed creative curriculum promise

Elsewhere in her speech, Debbonaire reconfirmed Labour’s pledge to develop a creative curriculum.

In July, Labour leader Keir Starmer outlined educational reforms that would see every child given the opportunity to study an arts subjects until the age of 16. 

During yesterday’s speech, Debbonaire confirmed work alongside Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is underway to “bring the best, music, art, sport and drama to every child”.

This will include ensuring children have the necessary skills to do jobs of the future in a successful creative industry, which are crucial to growing the economy, she said.

Visa waiver system for artists

Ahead of the conference, Debbonaire confirmed to the Art Newspaper installing a visa waiver system for artists working in Europe is a “priority” for Labour.

Debbonaire said Labour would use the waiver as a renewed “bond of trust” with colleagues in the European Union.

Her comments echoed those made by Labour’s former Culture Secretary Lucy Powell in August, who committed the party to resolving visa issues for touring performers.

The pledge has been widely welcomed online. Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Independent Society of Musicians, wrote on Twitter/X that it was “brilliant news”.

“We’re all delighted that [Debbonaire] has listened to ISM and all the policy work we have done on Brexit.”

A statement from the Musicians’ Union said Debbonaire has “been a friend of the union and musicians for years”.

“It is great to hear her plans to champion music education, fix EU touring and promote creative spaces across the UK.”