The Stage

Greater private funding necessary to sustain arts, says culture minister

Published Tuesday 13 November 2007 at 14:25 by Alistair Smith

TMA Conference: Culture minister Margaret Hodge has warned the arts world that it was “lucky” at the recent spending review and must look to private and corporate funding if it is to prosper in the future.

Speaking at the Theatrical Management Association’s annual winter conference, Hodge warned that future comprehensive spending reviews might not be as generous as the recent one, which saw the arts receive an extra £20 million above inflation over the next three years.

She said: “The fiscal situation is not going to change over the next five to ten years. The next spending review will be tough. We were lucky this time round. I have no idea where we’ll be next time round, but we can’t let the next three years go just waiting for the next bunch of money out of the Treasury. We’ve got to be proactive.”

Hodge particularly drew attention to private giving and philanthropy as a means of financing arts institutions, which she felt needed to be explored more fully.

The arts minister added: “I don’t think we’re good enough yet on the private giving to the arts in all their forms. I believe that those people who have enjoyed what is a privilege, which has enabled them to create great wealth from working in this country, also have a responsibility to put something back into this country and the arts infrastructure in the country. I think there is a great potential in private giving that we are not exploiting yet as successfully as we should.”

However, Hodge all but ruled out the principle of introducing tax breaks on donations to arts institutions as a way of generating more private donors for the arts. This practice is currently used in the US to make cultural giving more attractive to the rich.

“I don’t believe that tax breaks are the magic wand here,” said Hodge. “I can’t accept that the contribution to society of good and successful people depends on a tax break. In fact, I might argue that the long debate about tax breaks may have held us back in considering other levers… I don’t think it’s about tax breaks, I do believe it’s about them [donors] feeling recognised by society.”