Autumn budget: ACE boss ‘under no illusion’ over public arts funding

Arts Council England chief executive Darren Henley said government has “signalled very strongly” that the creative industries will face “a very tough couple of years” regarding public funding.

In comments made to The Stage ahead of Wednesday’s highly anticipated budget, Henley cautioned for the sector to be “realistic” about what the new government could offer financially.

“I’m very mindful of the fact that there’s a lot of pull on the public purse at the moment,” he said.

“We will always make the case for funding, but I’m under no illusion that this is likely to be a very tough couple of years in terms of the amount of public money that is available, and that is something that the government has signalled very strongly.”

“We know so much good work is being created, and there is so much work that we simply don’t have enough money to fund, but we also know what difference that work would make.”

Despite his caution, Henley spoke optimistically about Labour’s leadership on culture.

“I’m really excited. As soon as they came in, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Arts Minister Chris Bryant all spoke very eloquently about the importance of cultural education in schools, in the curriculum, with specialist teachers.

“For some of those young people who come from the toughest socio-economic backgrounds, they’re the least likely often to be able to access this sort of eduction and this sort of work. The fact that [Labour] sees it as a priority to change that is really, really exciting.

“We have very strong advocacy from Nandy. I think she absolutely understands the value of what artists can do.”