£1.5 b. of arts funding announced in the UK

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy on Wednesday announced a landmark £1.5bn arts funding package, urging London museums to expand their reach across the country. National institutions including the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery will receive £600m, but Nandy stressed the investment had a responsibility to attract audiences beyond the capital.

“Almost all of our national institutions are based in London, which means they need to work even harder to ensure they are truly national institutions, providing opportunities for young people across our country,” she said in a statement. Nandy praised the Royal Shakespeare Company’s outreach work as a model for national engagement: “We are building doors, but now you need to open them to the whole community.”

The funding is aimed at repairing Britain’s dilapidated cultural infrastructure in what has been called the biggest arts reset in a generation. It follows decades of budget austerity, including a 30% cut in Arts Council England (ACE) funding in 2010 and a previously announced investment of £270m.

The plan includes £425 million for the Creative Foundation Fund to support around 300 capital projects at arts venues across the country; £160 million for local and regional museums; £230 million for the heritage sector; and £27.5 million for public libraries. The National Investment Organization will also receive an additional £80 million in funding during this parliament.

In a statement, ACE chief executive Darren Henley described the scheme as an investment that will “ensure creative opportunities for generations to come”.

However, the plan has attracted some criticism from trade unions, with Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy arguing it focuses too much on the buildings rather than the people who bring culture to life. “The industry faces an ongoing and intractable crisis in pay and retention that must be addressed,” he said.

Nandy also expressed support for recommendations made in Margaret Hodge’s recent review of ACE, which highlighted the council’s “loss of respect and trust”, partly due to perceived political interference. The culture secretary called the proposals “a very welcome shake-up for a sector that has been chronically underfunded, undervalued and underutilized.” She saw the funding as a historic moment rivaling the post-Second World War cultural reconstruction.