CVAN welcomes the DCMS Select Committee’s recent report Reimagining where we live: cultural placemaking and the levelling up agenda, which includes several policy proposals put forward by CVAN.
We particularly welcome the Committee’s acknowledgement of our concerns regarding the precarious nature of arts funding and the call for sustainable public funding. The report also calls for targeted support for arts organisations to ease the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis and urges the Government to capture the social, cultural and economic value of creative organisations.
The Committee uses the term “cultural placemaking” to refer to the role that arts play in shaping the places where we live and argues that “place based” approaches to culture can deliver direct and indirect benefits in relation to education, health and well-being. CVAN responded to a series of questions posed by the Committee as part of their inquiry, detailing the many ways in which artists and art organisations revitalise public space.
The Committee also challenges the view that our industry is a meritocracy after hearing evidence from arts organisations and professionals, including Professor Dave O’Brien whose research has found that the creative industries “are neither diverse, nor equal, nor inclusive”.
“As well as setting out detailed recommendations for the UK Government to address problems relating to education, skills and funding, this wide-ranging report from the DCMS Select Committee holds up a mirror to the UK’s inequalities and the elitism of our sector.
Şenay Camgöz, Policy and Communications Manager, CVAN
The Government will respond to the Committee’s report in the new year.
