The latest budget announcements from across the world reveal a troubling, if predictable, trend: funding the creative industries is not a government priority. By Natasha Dixon
As governments around the world reveal their budget proposals for the next fiscal year, seeking to end the era of pandemic-related assistance and respond to global economic pressures, it seems the performing arts sector will have to look elsewhere for the substantial financial support it requires.
UNITED KINGDOM
Since the start of 2023, the UK’s performing arts sector has watched in horror as historic arts intuitions have been faced with a tranche of funding cuts in the name of “Levelling Up”. With a new fiscal year beginning, it seems that this trend is likely to continue, in the short term at least. In his 2023 Spring Budget, UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered a sombre economic outlook that included limited support for the performing arts sector, merely retaining existing tax reliefs for theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries for a further two years, until April 2025. However, with a General Election expected within the next 18 months and the Labour Party sustaining its significant poll lead, perhaps the performing arts sector will finally find light at the end of the tunnel.
More recently, Labour’s Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell has begun to develop the Party’s arts offer, having criticised the Conservative government for treating cultural pursuits as “an afterthought… rather than at the forefront of their plan for growth”. Although light on fiscal details, in line with many of Labour’s existing policy pronouncements, Powell committed a prospective Labour government to improving arts accessibility. Her strategy included protecting arts education within the wider curriculum and supporting sustainable growth in creative clusters across the country, as part of Labour’s wider commitment to regional equality. The Party’s pledge to renegotiate an EU-wide cultural touring agreement also offers a welcome relief to organisations beset with Brexit-related obstacles.
UNITED STATES
Across the pond, President Biden’s FY 2024 Budget represents a modest increase in funding for the sector, as it continues to recover from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. With $211m directed at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the budget represents a $4m increase on FY 2023 levels. Much of this funding will be directed at arts education across America, targeting underserved communities and strengthening civic infrastructure by increasing access to the arts within schools and wider communities. Although the NEA has praised the Budget for “recognising that arts and culture have a unique power to better our economy”, there remains a long way to go until American policymakers embrace the arts as a tool for fostering social cohesion within a deeply divided nation.
CANADA
In Canada, the 2023 Federal Budget presented little to celebrate for the creative industries, falling far short of expectations within the performing arts sector. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland’s plans to deliver a “responsible fiscal plan” and maintain the lowest deficit in the G7 did not include investments to support the sustainable growth and long-term resilience of Canada’s arts industry. Instead, her commitments were limited to a CAN$14m investment directed at the Department of Canadian Heritage over the next two years, a figure that does not represent any new funding. Much to the dismay of live performers, the Canadian Arts Presentation Fund was completely omitted from the budget in what Natalie Lue, Chair of the Canadian Association for the Performing Arts (CAPACOA) has called “troubling oversight that will significantly impact the live performance sector” and represents a funding decrease of CAN$8m per year.
AUSTRALIA
On the other side of the world, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the restoration of Australia’s cultural institutions a central pledge of his electoral campaign last year, pointing to a “decade of decline” under the previous coalition government. The Labor government began its efforts this January, with a AUS$300m funding boost directed at the arts and culture sector and a rebrand of the country’s arts funding and advisory body, newly named Revive. Beyond this, much of the fiscal detail will be illuminated in the forthcoming May budget. However, if the recent pre-budget announcement of an AUS$535m fiscal lifeline to institutions such as the National Gallery of Australia, the National Library of Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive, are anything to go by, it seems likely that next month’s budget will represent a high point for the sector.
No matter the level of rhetorical or fiscal support from governments, it is clear that state investment will only take the arts sector so far, intended to support initial reinvigoration programmes, educational efforts and ad-hoc sectoral support. Instead, catalytic investment to future-proof the sector will have to come from private financing and arts institutions would do well to direct their attention beyond the constrained national budgets of this time.
IAM will continue to monitor international funding announcements, with a particular focus on the development of the UK Labour Party’s arts policy ahead of the next UK General Election.
Natasha Dixon is a political risk analyst, providing strategic advice to arts institutions across the globe.