ONS data: Arts activity shrinks by 15% since July

Economic activity in the creative, arts and entertainment sectors shrank by a cumulative 15% between July and October this year, an analysis by a performers’ union Equity has found.

Equity has highlighted figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this month, which show output in these sectors falling by an average of 3.7% during four months, leading to a cumulative decline of nearly 15%.

The drop in the category – which includes the performing arts, support activities, artistic creation and arts facilities – is contributing to reduced output in the wider category of arts, entertainment and recreation. This fell by a cumulative 4.1% over the same period.

It is the first time the creative, arts and entertainment sectors have seen four consecutive months of decline since the beginning of Covid restrictions in March 2020.

The union linked the trend with the Labour government taking office after 14 years of Conservative leadership. In recent years, the sectors’ output has been broadly stable after plummeting during the Covid pandemic and since recovering.

*Output in the sectors has been broadly stable since recovering from the Covid pandemic.* *Source: ONS*

‘Alarming’

Paul Fleming, Equity general secretary, said the “rapid and significant shrinking of the arts and entertainment industries since Labour took office is alarming”.

He called on the government to take “urgent action to understand and address this fall happening on their watch, [and to set out] a roadmap to reach the European average of investing 0.5% of GDP in the arts”.

Regardless of government measures, he said the union’s “claims for better pay, conditions and investment for our members will deliver the improvements creative workers need”.

Fleming said that “mixed responses” to arts funding across the UK, with investment in Scotland, but Wales not reversing significant cuts, “was just not good enough” given the sector’s importance to growth.

“With AI threatening creative jobs, government must take action to boost our creative industries, ensuring well paid jobs exist in a thriving UK arts and entertainment sector which benefits the wider economy.”