This column has regularly railed against the cynical appointment of uninterested politicians to the role of Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Readers can decide for themselves from the dozen ministers who have served during the current administration, which deserves the gold medal for best fulfilling a government mandate to ignore the arts.
Nadine Dorries looked like a dead cert throughout a tenure during which she seemed determined to attack every artistic endeavour, with a particular hatred of anything smacking of what she might have described as “elitism” but most of us would call “artistic excellence”.
However, one should put in a good word for the current incumbent, Lucy Fraser. It is quite possible that, despite having the brief cut when digital was moved to her predecessor, this minister does not actually realise that her brief extends to the arts, such has been her unwillingness to comment on, let alone support, the sector. Her only minor contributions follow instincts that lean towards the kind of culture wars which have great appeal for many of her Cabinet colleagues.
On this topic, readers are commended to check out a passionately expressed but well-researched article by John Kampfner in the Guardian on Wednesday. Both the title and subtitle are gems, respectively:
‘Culture embarrasses them’: how 14 years of Tory fiascos strangle arts in the UK
and
They came to power promising ‘a golden age for the arts’. Now, 12 disastrous culture secretaries later, they leave it in tatters. What a stunning missed opportunity to capitalise on an asset that was the envy of the world.
Kampfner should know what he is talking about as Founder Chair of Turner Contemporary, chair of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration and a former chief executive of Index on Censorship, but, more significantly, founding chief executive of the Creative Industries Federation.
With less than a week to go until the general election (thank heavens), you would hope that the Federation and other major arts organisations including theatre companies, both major and minor, would be in the starting blocks ready to set out their stall for whoever might become the next Minister for Culture.
If it is Lucy Fraser, then some may have little to hope for much beyond a painless closure. On the other hand, the current shadow minister, Thangam Debbonaire, is a genuine artiste. Before taking up a career in politics, she was a professional cellist and therefore will readily understand the issues faced by those in the cultural sector, not to mention having some friends in the right places.
There could be a hitch in this plan, since she is one of the few Labour bigwigs who could fail to achieve re-election, given that Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer has chosen to fight in the same constituency. Recent media hints suggest that the Labour Party may already be considering a fallback position whereby Ms Debbonaire becomes Lady Debbonaire.
Many of the arguments laid out in John Kampfner’s carefully considered article will be familiar from previous BTG columns. Working upwards, the destruction of arts education other than in private schools has been devastating and may take years to reverse, even if the finances and will are there, which must be open to doubt.
Recently, government ministers have been keen to attack arts degrees as well, presumably believing that everybody should study PPE at Oxford or, if places are limited, economics at Cambridge or, perish the thought, a redbrick university.
Theatres themselves are in peril, requiring increased support from the private sector since Arts Council funding has been both reduced and used as a political football of late.
Brexit has been a disaster on many fronts. By diminishing our economy, it has hit the metaphorical pockets of the government and also many in the private sector, not to mention a little less directly individuals who are now having to pay exorbitant mortgages at the same time as other costs shooting up. It has also stopped theatre companies from touring and led to staff shortages or hikes in salary costs.
Inevitably, when people cut back, voluntary expenditure is hit hard. This regrettably includes funding of the arts by government, quangos, corporates, individual angels and more prosaically theatregoers who can’t afford the cost of the ticket.
Perhaps the most telling parallel drawn in the Guardian article relates to the fishing industry. While many of us thoroughly enjoy an increasingly expensive portion of haddock and chips or wild salmon, the ministerial interest in the subject post-Brexit seems disproportionate when you consider that it adds approximately £1 billion to the British economy, which is less than 1% of the contribution of the creative industries.
In less than a week, we will know the outcome of the election and we must all hope that the next government is considerably more sympathetic to the arts than those of the last decade and a half, somehow squeezing out additional funding either directly or through new tax breaks for those willing to invest.