On culture cuts
Friday 1st April 2011
The blogosphere has been buzzing since Arts Council England announced its cuts on Wednesday, with the Guardian’s live coverage especially impressive (summarised here). Some tentative conclusions: the Arts Council justifies its existence by its nuanced approach; percentage statistics obscure as much as they clarify; London’s dominance of the cultural landscape confirmed (again); theatre world readjusts and moves on; Jeremy Hunt can keep his job (but only if he promises to make some other blunders in the future). Two other things: there is surely now an urgent case for legislation to force local authorities to fund culture; the huge response in the comments section of the blogs, with passionate contributions for and against arts funding, show that people really care about the subject — in the case of David Edgar’s blog, there were more than 280 comments! This is all good: if there was no controversy, the arts would be dead.
© Aleks Sierz
