The Labour Party has won a landslide majority in the UK general election, with leader Keir Starmer set to enter 10th Downing Street today with a current tally of 410 seats (the Conservatives have so far secured 119 seats, while the Liberal Democrats will have 71 MPs). With such a compelling mandate, arts figures are watching to see whether the cultural sector will be transformed in some way, possibly through extra funding (Labour announced its arts and culture plans in early June). Lisa Nandy was appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on 5 July. In the wake of Labour’s victory, we asked leading figures in the arts world what they expect from the new Labour government.
Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In no particular order: emergency financial support for regional museums facing bankruptcy; commitment to faster and more transparent curator appointment processes; Treasury confirmation of exhibition tax exemption for museums and galleries; establishment of a Soft Power Council to support the UK’s creative industries; resetting relations with the EU to support the easier flow of creative professionals, musicians and young people between the UK and the continent; inclusion of museum and gallery infrastructure and maintenance in Green New Deal funding; and freedom for city mayors to introduce a hotel tax to fund arts and culture.
Tiffany Jenkins, author of Keeping Your Marbles: How Treasures of the Past Ended Up in Museums and Why They Should Stay There
I urge this Labour government to embrace the arts with the same enthusiasm as the last Labour administration, but without instrumentalising them. The arts must stand on their own two feet, free from extraneous demands imposed by policymakers and practitioners. I urge the government to discard the philistine and crass expectations that culture should drive the economy, identity, promote diversity, address climate change or any other fashionable cause of the day. Instead, the government should aspire to recognise and appreciate the most important and vital roles of the arts: the pursuit of beauty and truth. This approach will benefit everyone, now and in the future.
Ryan Gander, artist
An understanding that the ephemeral has more value than the physical. Conservatives have made us obsessed with understanding the world through belongings, things, money, and growth. What we need are values that we cannot see and measure, like magic, stories, memories, conversations, relationships. YOLO [you only live once]. And you can’t take that with you. Right was never right.
Sally Bacon, Co-Chair, Cultural Learning Alliance
The Cultural Learning Alliance would like to see the EBacc (English Baccalaureate), which excludes arts subjects, scrapped. And for Labour’s planned curriculum and assessment review to be truly bold and ambitious, and to address the purposes of schooling first, so that equal curriculum areas, including the Expressive Arts, can be mapped onto new, clear purposes. We need a well-rounded, future-oriented educational experience for all students.
Martin Clark, Director of Camden Art Centre, London
I hope the new government will not only understand and talk about the value and contribution of arts and culture – one of the few things we continue to lead the world in in this country – but also recognise that a relatively small economic investment in our museums and galleries will have a disproportionately transformative impact on institutions and communities across the UK. The numbers needed to fix the NHS, social care, schools etc are staggering. The numbers needed to transform access to transformative arts and culture for millions are modest in comparison.
Aaron Cezar, Director of the Delfina Foundation, London
Given that direct funding for the arts will be low on its list of priorities, I would like the Labour government to implement tax incentives on charitable giving. All political parties seem to expect private philanthropy to fill gaps, but there is virtually no incentive for individuals or companies to do so. Relatedly, the Labour Party needs to carefully consider the negative impact of its policies on non-domiciled individuals. [non-domiciled residents] who make significant philanthropic contributions to the arts and other sectors.
Bendor Grosvenor, art historian, presenter and contributor to The Art Journal
My wish list would be for Labour to fully implement its (excellent) creative industries manifesto, including greater distribution of national museum art to the regions and open access to museum images. Both policies will provoke resistance from national museum leadership teams, who really don’t like change, but they need to be done soon to help build the audiences of the future.
Joe Scotland, Director of Studio Voltaire, London
Support and protect the rights of trans people.
Jenny Waldman, Director of the Art Fund
Museums and galleries can play a vital role in improving wellbeing, education, economic growth and bringing joy to communities across the UK. I hope a Labour government will take some important first steps: strategic investment and a review of local authority funding, a Museum Collections Bill that supports the sharing of collections, and a national curriculum that encourages every pupil to visit a museum or gallery every year.
Axel Rüger, Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, London
We welcome the new Labour government and its commitment to rebuilding a prosperous and welcoming Britain.
As an independent charity, the Royal Academy of Arts does not receive any government funding, but we look forward to working together to support its ambitions in culture, education, tourism and employment.
With Arts Education at the heart of our mission, our wish list would include a committed and engaged DCMS Secretary working closely with the Department of Education to ensure that arts education is central to the school curriculum, with all the benefits this brings to children, society and the economy. Art is serious business.
We would also like to see greater support for young international artistic talent, with the government increasing the visas available for students wishing to come and study in the UK. At the moment, RA Schools can only accept British citizens or those with the right to remain, settled status or special talent visas.
And finally, we would seek greater recognition of the vital role of culture in the UK economy and a greater commitment to revitalising tourism, reintroducing duty-free shopping, improving transport and creating employment opportunities in the cultural and creative sectors.
