The Stage

Government should think twice before scrapping arts council

Published Monday 6 September 2004 at 17:55

Perhaps in time the people with most cause to rue the passing of the post-war arts funding system will turn out to be the very politicians who have tried so hard to hasten its demise.

For decades, first the Arts Council of Great Britain and then its successors for England, Wales and Northern Ireland have provided a safety buffer between the state and the objects of its patronage. Anthony Field’s doughty rearguard action in defence of this contribution illuminates the way in which the arm’s length approach has protected the arts from censorship. A by-product too is the way in which governments of every political persuasion have had a handy scapegoat which has shielded them from criticism. They ought to think twice before disposing of it so readily.

Again and again we must remind ourselves of the idiotically naive fanfare with which many in the arts world treated the replacement of a moribund Tory administration by a Labour one. The incomers, so the mantra went, were more arts friendly than the Conservatives while the arts council had functioned as an agent of the previous administration. So, cut out the middleman and all would be perfection.

Even if this was not a somewhat rosy early assessment of the Blair government, it demonstrates a poor grasp of the democratic process. Governments may wish to stay in power for an eternity but they rarely get the opportunity when they allow the issue to be decided by popular vote. The benefits of the funding system are best assessed by considering the worst case post-election scenario, not the alleged best.

Dismantling of the present structure can easily be depicted as an exercise in bringing government closer to the people: remove the nasty bureaucrats and then minister shall speak unto voter (or theatre manager, at least). All very practical if one lives in an Athenian democracy in which the entire electorate could barely fill a village hall. Somewhat less so in a nation of nearly 60 million.

The net effect is to leave the arts dependent upon the caprices and the moral courage of MPs - a rather shaky foundation, one might suppose. And, as the latest pronouncements from Scotland and Wales remind us, the process is advancing further every year. The logical outcome, a mini arts council in every town, may look more attractive and less intimidating to the user. We should worry that it might seem more appealing to governments also, though for different reasons altogether.