The UK’s visual arts sector is a global leader and a vital part of our national identity, creative economy, and public life. From Turner Prize-winning artists to grassroots galleries and studios in towns, rural areas and cities across the country, the visual arts ecosystem fuels economic growth, improves wellbeing, and fosters education and skills.

This ecosystem generates over £4.1 billion in exports annually, is the world’s second-largest commercial art sector, supports more than 50,000 working artists, and attracts millions of visitors to the UK’s 12 world-renowned museums and galleries, which are ranked in the global top 100.

Yet despite this value, the sector faces growing pressures—from rising costs and declining education access to the erosion of studio infrastructure and regional opportunity.

A coalition of sector support organisations and leaders commissioned Framing the Future: The Political Case for Strengthening the Visual Arts Ecosystem. The report makes the case for investment in the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review in June, presenting four key recommendations shaped by broad engagement across artists, public galleries, the commercial sector, and studios. It offers a renewed vision for investing in the visual arts ecosystem.

Authored by creative industries expert Eliza Easton, Director of think tank Erskine Analysis. 

Commissioned by CVAN Contemporary Visual Arts Network and John Hansard Gallery, part of the University of Southampton, in partnership with DACS Design and Artists Copyright Society, a-n The Artists Information Company, Plus Tate and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Visual Arts and Artists.

It sets out a bold, practical roadmap to ensure that the visual arts are not only protected—but empowered to deliver on three of the Labour Government’s central missions:

  • Inclusive Economic Growth – from regenerating towns like Eastbourne and Wakefield to supporting good jobs in studios, galleries, and supply chains
  • Better Health and Wellbeing – through community arts, creative care models, and therapeutic environments
  • Expanded Education and Skills – equipping the next generation with creativity, critical thinking, and access to careers in the UK’s £124.6bn creative industries
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“This report gives the government the tools it needs to provide vital support for artists and the visual arts sector. We have a wealth of hugely talented artists in the UK, but that talent can’t survive in isolation. If you give artists the support they need, they will thrive. If you don’t, only the privileged will be able to become artists, and our culture will suffer as a result.” Dame Tracey Emin DBE
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Four Key Recommendations for the Spending Review

To unlock this potential, the report sets out four targeted, high-impact policy interventions:

1. A UK Cultural Investment Partnership Fund
A permanent fund, modelled on Canada’s, to:
• Provide emergency support for at-risk non-profits
• Back business model innovation and partnerships development
• Offer matched capital and endowment funding to support long-term sustainability and decarbonisation

2. A £5 Million Grassroots Visual Arts Fund
Grants for small galleries, studios and artist-led spaces to support:
• Studio and venue costs
• Local exhibitions and outreach
• Early-career artist development
Modelled on the successful Grassroots Music Fund, this will help emerging talent flourish across the UK.

3. Expand Access to Creative Education
An £8.4 million per year investment to:
• Expand the National Saturday Club network from 122 to 1,000 clubs
• Reach 54,000+ young people, especially in underserved areas
• Build confidence, creativity, and pathways to future careers

4. Restore Specialist Funding in Higher Education
Reverse the 2021 cuts to ensure:
• Protection for world-class creative courses
• Support for industry-standard facilities
• A sustainable pipeline of skilled graduates for the UK’s creative economy 

 

Download Framing the Future Report

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“The arts are vanishing from education, especially in state schools, creating a system where only the middle and upper classes can access creative opportunities. Rising costs, falling resources, and cuts to non-profits are pushing artists – especially freelancers – out of the sector. If we allow only the wealthy to become artists, we risk narrowing the stories we tell and losing the richness that comes from diverse life experiences.” Larry Achiampong, Artist
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Explore the Case Studies: Place-Based Impact Across the UK

The report draws on in-depth case studies that illustrate the public value of the visual arts, including:

  • Eastbourne ALIVE: Cultural programming around the 2023 Turner Prize delivered £16.1 million in local economic value and 200,000 visitors, proving culture’s role in regeneration.
  • Project Art Works (Hastings): An award-winning organisation supporting neurodivergent artists, families and carers—bridging the gap between culture and social care.
  • BACKLIT (Nottingham): An artist-led gallery that secured its building through public support, enabling long-term investment in access, education, and sustainability.
  • The Box (Plymouth): A cultural venue delivering inclusive early-years programmes in one of England’s most deprived local authority areas, reaching tens of thousands of families.
  • Hospital Rooms (national): Transforming mental health environments through high-quality visual art installations and participatory workshops in NHS settings.
  • The NewBridge Project (Newcastle): A vital creative hub supporting over 130 artists. Having relocated four times due to rising rents and insecure tenure, the organisation now faces an uncertain future without strategic capital investment. Its loss would impact not just artists, but the wider community that depends on it for cultural engagement, skills development, and creative opportunity.

Why This Matters: A National Ecosystem at Risk

The UK’s visual arts sector is not just world-leading—it is nationally embedded and locally rooted.

This interconnected ecosystem touches millions of lives, from international galleries to local studios, artist residencies, education programmes, and creative care initiatives. It plays a vital role in levelling up local economies, reducing health inequalities, and preparing the future workforce.

But it is under increasing strain:

  • Exports have fallen by £1.7 billion since 2018
  • Arts education provision is declining sharply in schools and universities
  • Community-based studios and small galleries are closing or relocating due to unaffordable rents and insecure funding
  • Local authority budgets for culture have been cut by over 40% since 2010

Without action, we risk permanent damage to the infrastructure that underpins one of the UK’s most successful sectors.

The Visual Arts Are Public Infrastructure – Invest Now

This report offers a path forward.

By adopting the recommendations outlined in Framing the Future, the UK Government has a timely opportunity to:

  • Reverse decline
  • Unlock the long-term public value
  • Position the visual arts as a core partner in delivering a stronger, fairer, more creative country.


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Now is the moment to secure the future of the UK’s visual arts—and the benefits they bring to every community.

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“The UK art market has the second largest share of the global art market and is an important hub for international art business, bringing cultural visitors from around the world to UK galleries, art fairs and premier auctions. Integral to this are the art market’s close relationships and crossover of staff and expertise with academic and public arts institutions, with which it also maintains close commercial links. It is this ‘cultural critical mass’ involving the commercial and the wider arts world which sustains the UK’s role as a centre for arts and culture, with all the ancillary benefits that brings including tourism, employment, and international profile.” Tom Christopherson, Chairman, The British Art Market Federation
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