On Tory arts policies

Interesting to hear, now that the election campaign is already up-and-running, that the Conservative shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is already proposing what the Guardian calls “fierce cuts for cultural quangos”, as well as hoping that a future Tory government “would work to build a US-style culture of philanthropy by encouraging tax breaks on lifetime giving”. Well, that’s a good one — it will be interesting to see, in a year when private sponsorship of culture has already declined dramatically due to the recession, how many private philanthropists dig deep to help the arts. Still, I suppose we should thank Hunt: at least we have been warned. Frankly, if anyone in the arts world votes Tory this year, they might as well post themselves their own redundancy notice on the same day.

© Aleks Sierz

Arts Council culture cuts Guardian Jeremy Hunt sponsorship subsidy Tories