London is internationally renowned for the breadth and depth of its cultural offering. Its galleries, theatres, museums, libraries and music venues are as integral a part of this city as the River Thames that flows through its heart. The city is a global powerhouse of the creative industries. At Arts Council England we are as proud of the heritage and prestige that the arts provide the city, as you are as Londoners. As someone who was born and has lived most of my life in this city, I can say I am doubly proud of that.
Today the Arts Council has announced its investment programme for the next three years. It will see £446 million a year invested across the country with many creative and cultural organisations receiving regular funding from the Arts Council for the first time. Creating a fairer spread of investment throughout England has meant taking tough decisions about how much funding London receives and where in the capital that money is spent.
Over recent years we have been rebalancing our investment to make sure that everyone, whichever corner of England they live in, has better access to great creative and cultural experiences. As part of the process of shaping our 10-year strategy Let’s Create, people have told us that they want to enjoy the arts where they live. The process of shifting the proportion we spend in London may have been speeded up by the instruction we received from the previous Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, but it was not a new idea.
Our aim, while increasing investment elsewhere in the country, is to protect London’s place in our nation’s creative and cultural ecology. Many of the biggest names among our cultural organisations will face reductions in their funding, to support the increase in spending elsewhere and with it the health of the wider creative fabric. At the same time, a third of our entire investment over the next three years will remain in London – a total of more than £143 million.
London is far more than Covent Garden or the South Bank, there is exciting and innovative work happening right across the city. London’s outer boroughs are home to communities with new talent and fascinating stories to tell. Some parts of this city have previously had low levels of investment from the Arts Council. I am pleased to say that places such as Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Croydon, Enfield and Newham will see a significant increase in the funding they receive compared to our previous investment programme which we announced five years ago.
Almost every part of London will also have one arts organisation that will receive regular funding. Among them are Stanley Arts in South Norwood in Croydon, an arts and performance venue which puts its community at the heart of its work; Fresh Arts C.I.C in Brent which create arts projects and creative experiences for children and young people from theatre schools to arts holiday camps; and Pegasus Opera Company which is based in Lambeth, Brixton to be precise, and promote a love of opera across all ages and give opportunities to talented performers.
The investment programme we have announced today is about making high quality culture available to everyone wherever they live. It is about opening up career opportunities in the creative industries for young people whatever their background. It is about delivering on the promise we made to everyone in Let’s Create. By doing so I believe that London can truly become the capital of a nation transformed by culture bringing us all together happier, healthier, more excited and inspired.
