Art institutions must do more to attract disadvantaged children or face funding cuts, says Harman

The next Labour government would take away state funding for museums and theatres, unless they do more to encourage children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to come to through their doors. Harriet Harman – Deputy Labour leader and Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – recently attacked the Tories for overseeing a ‘creative crisis’ in the UK, in which  participation in arts activities has  by a third in schools since the coalition came to power. As part of an effort to remedy this, the Telegraph reported today that Harman will lay out plans that would mean those institutions that get money from the Arts Council would have to produce yearly reports showing what they had done to attract more children into their buildings. She will explain:

“The danger is that, at the moment, there is a growing number of young people with no meaningful exposure to arts and culture.

When I went to the Opera House last week – even from the cheapest seats in the house – I couldn’t see in the audience anyone who wasn’t like myself: white, metropolitan and middle class. 

For institutions which get public funds, it can’t be like that. To change audiences, there has to be committed, focused intervention.

It wasn’t elitism that gave birth to the creative excellence of Tracey Emin, Danny Boyle or Steve McQueen. We shouldn’t protect the arts from the people – we need to allow people into the arts.”

In an effort to encourage greater inclusivity in the arts, under Labour arts organisations would be obliged to offer paid internships to “local young people from disadvantaged backgrounds” as a condition of state funding. Harman will also put forward proposals for a ‘Universal Cultural Entitlement’,  where each child in the UK would have an automatic entitlement to visit to a gallery, concert or theatre once a year.

Alongside these moves, Labour are also keen to highlight the role of state funding in the arts, as Harman will outline:

“Unless people know the vital role of public funding in the arts they enjoy, they won’t defend it.

In any programme, on any plaque in a theatre, gallery or arts venue you can see the names of companies that have donated or generous philanthropists.  But the biggest donor, the taxpayer, is virtually invisible. Just a micro-dot of the arts council logo is not enough. I think every programme or plaque should have a pie chart showing the public support.”