“I do intend to make sure that what happens over the next period is not detrimental to the arts and will not allow the fact we are having an Olympic Games to come in the way of the arts.” Thus spake Gordon Brown only weeks before sending out the change of address cards and he could hardly have been clearer than that. Yet, ever since our new PM made these pronouncements at the Brighton Festival in May, the sceptics have been hard at work. Last week, for instance, in a column headed ‘Things can only get worse’, the Times’ Arts Editor declared: “the imminent Spending Review will cut millions from the arts.” But how can this be true? A Prime Minister who says one thing but does another wouldn’t last five minutes in a democracy like ours. And even if, God forbid, Gordon Brown should not prove to be a man of his word we could always turn to the Tories. Those self same Tories who decimated our music education system last time they were in office and who had years to make up their minds whether to endorse free entry to museums but still couldn’t manage it. The pity is – as I pointed out last month – that New Labour has increased arts funding and does deserve to take some plaudits for the results this has achieved. How silly (and tragic) it would be to throw all that away for the sake of what – in treasury terms – is peanuts. And, quite apart from the fact it would be nice to see Gordon Brown honour his pledge, it would surely be politically naïve to have all those luvvies from the arts world – with their irritating access to the media – yapping about ‘broken promises’ for the next however many years.
An interesting by-product of New Labour’s insistence on cultural ‘inclusivity’ has been the emergence of a thrusting new breed of Arts Administrators determined to ensure that their venues/festivals/events are open to all. Unlike the recent apoplectic letter-writer to this newspaper – who spluttered that Berlin’s Philharmonie or Vienna’s Musikverein would never have allowed such “mindless rubbish” to be programmed during the re-opening of the South Bank Centre – I am completely in favour of arts centres being available to everyone. Besides, this gentleman has failed to take on board exactly what Jude Kelly, the South Bank’s Artistic Director, has so cunningly realised: that the South Bank complex is capable of an infinite variety of events whereas neither of the concert halls he mentioned in his letter are. The rejuvenation of the South Bank Centre is something for the whole country to be proud of. Similarly, Manchester’s first International Festival – which runs until July 15th and was programmed by the audacious Alex Poots – looks set to be a triumph. Where else would you find the BBC Philharmonic premiering a new 50 minute orchestral work by William Orbit (the man who played naughty with Barber’s Adagio) alongside an endearingly wacky-sounding performance piece based on the idea of Johnny Vegas trying to flog you his house? In all, Manchester Festival has commissioned 25 new pieces and the city is expecting an extra 160,000 visitors as a result. Both the Manchester and South Bank projects required serious injections of cash but I predict they will more than repay this government’s investment. The arts have always been difficult to quantify in terms of immediate financial return but a country which is flourishing artistically will produce immense benefits not only for the well being and sense of belonging of its populace but also to the tourist industry: people are more inclined to visit a country where lots of exciting things are going on. Kelly and Poots are getting it right. Will New Labour under Brown?
Now that the smoking ban has kicked in can we please tackle the invasive pollutant that is piped muzak? Then we could all breathe a lot easier.
