The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee is conducting an inquiry into the future of the creative industries.
CVAN has responded to the inquiry to draw attention to the fact that widespread cuts in the arts higher education sector are likely to disrupt the talent pipeline driving the UK’s creative industries. These cuts are already undermining the government’s Levelling Up agenda in areas that have been identified as Priority Places, in need of increased investment. We also took this opportunity to reiterate our call for the £270m arts premium for secondary schools as promised in the Conservative Party Manifesto.
Our response also addressed the fact that reduced or static funding to visual arts organisations will continue to have a significant impact on the creative industries, drastically reducing organisations’ ability and capacity to create paid opportunities for artists and arts workers and to provide cultural provision for audiences and communities. CVAN anticipates that rural areas and smaller organisations will be most impacted. We also raised the concern that reduced funding will threaten essential Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work and hinder the sector’s progress in this area.
We also raised our concerns that visual arts workers will continue to leave the sector to seek less precarious work with more hours and better pay. This will have a detrimental impact on the quality, diversity and consistency of offer from arts and cultural organisations, particularly smaller organisations.