The coming Ice Age
Norman Lebrecht spells out what “the coming Ice Age” in UK arts funding will mean. It’s a ‘must read’.
Meanwhile, the British Museum ponders the implications of the likely cuts, and Andrew Lloyd Webber raises concerns about the future survival of classical youth orchestras and classic music in UK schools, squeezed between cuts (at the start of summer 06 Labour told schools they could spend money previously ring-fenced for music services on anything they like) and an anti-elitist curriculum that’s being dumbed-down and politicised beyond recognition. And arts provision by local Councils is under threat generally*, which — when combined with Arts Council England’s plan to cancel all its arts match-funding agreements with all local councils — will probably leave little room for funding expensive things like youth orchestras. Or perhaps little room for culture full stop.
* DEMOS reported in May that…
“At local government level culture is suffering extreme funding cuts” … “According to a recent survey quoted in Arts Professional, 79 per cent of local government arts officers were expecting their budgets to be at standstill or to be cut. Eighteen English local authorities – one in 20 – have dispensed with their arts services completely since 2002.”
[...] Tristram Hunt warns of the growing threat to the nation’s small treasures as arts cuts loom… “Across the country, councillors are turning their back on the cultural purpose of local government.” [...]
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