The Stage

British Council report links culture and class

Published Wednesday 8 September 2010 at 17:02 by Natalie Woolman

Government arts policy should shift its focus away from institutions and towards artists and audiences in an attempt to break down class barriers, according to former Demos head of culture John Holden.

In Culture and Class, published by the British Council’s think tank, Counterpoint, Holden says successive governments’ arts policy and funding choices have not treated artists and audiences as individuals.

Holden states: “Legislation has concerned itself with institutional governance. Cultural funding has been directed towards the maintenance of organisations - either that, or to the achievement of targets where people are treated as clay to be worked on.”

Instead, Holden says that government policy should aim to “produce culturally confident individuals with creative capabilities”. He argues people who lack cultural confidence are less socially mobile.

The report states that part of the British population is “culturally and creatively disenfranchised” and points to research conducted in 2009 that found that, in 2007/8, 76.7% of members of higher socio-economic groups had attended at least one arts event, compared with 53.8% of lower socio-economic groups.

Highlighting Theatre Royal Stratford East for starting “to talk to the local community about what they want to see in their theatre”, Holden argues that the steps taken by organisations, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, will result in the companies having “a much richer relationship with the public”.