Creating a vision for culture
Sector prepares responses to government plan to develop the first white paper for the arts in half a century.
Culture minister Ed Vaizey announced last month that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) would be producing a white paper on the arts in England – the first time Westminster has published an overall vision for the cultural sector in 50 years.
The paper will focus on four key themes: cultural placemaking, participation and engagement, building financial resilience, and working with cultural institutions to promote Britain abroad.
Financial resilience must come first, says Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums, as this underpins the ability to address all the other issues. He would like to see rewards for co-production and inclusive participation, with an emphasis on social mobility, and funding going towards projects that create a more equal society.
Perdita Hunt, the director of the Watts Gallery in Surrey, believes multi-strand funding is the key, as museums can no longer rely on the state or their local authority. She would like to see policies around enterprise and the link between culture and tourism in placemaking, alongside a focus on the power of art to transform lives and improve wellbeing.
Keith Merrin, the director of the Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland, says he would like to see a focus on widening access to culture and heritage, but also on creating “meaningful” national partnerships. There is still a situation in which national tours end up costing regional museums, he says, because only the London- based costs have been met, and this needs to be resolved.
Speaking at a debate on regional support for the arts earlier this year, Vaizey emphasised his belief in the power of cultural placemaking, and suggested that the paper would give the DCMS a platform to formalise relationships with other government departments.
But there is a question mark over whether there will be sufficient parliamentary time to deal with it.
As this issue of Museums Journal went to press, the DCMS had no timetable for the paper. A spokesman said that it would be launched “in the coming months”.
The Museums Association (MA), National Museum Directors’ Council and Association of Independent Museums are waiting for the launch of the paper before making a formal response.
But David Fleming, the MA’s president and the director of National Museums Liverpool, says he thinks it is “fantastic that the government is acknowledging that there hasn’t been a vision or agenda in the sector, and it is time there was”.
In particular, Fleming would like to see the paper address the value of the social impact that museums have because “that is the way that government expenditure on museums is best explained”.
Museums have been “hamstrung by the lack of government policy” in the past, he thinks, and it is now up to the sector to make sure that it doesn’t just become a discussion about funding. The DCMS is inviting comments via its website
What the last white paper said
The exclusion of so many for so long from the best of our cultural heritage can become as damaging to the privileged minority as to the under-privileged majority. New ideas, new values and involvement of large sections of the community hitherto given little or no opportunity to appreciate the best in the arts, all have their place.
Jennie Lee, A Policy For The Arts: The First Steps, 1965 Sector prepares responses to government plan to develop the first white paper for the arts in half a century.
The paper will focus on four key themes: cultural placemaking, participation and engagement, building financial resilience, and working with cultural institutions to promote Britain abroad.
Financial resilience must come first, says Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums, as this underpins the ability to address all the other issues. He would like to see rewards for co-production and inclusive participation, with an emphasis on social mobility, and funding going towards projects that create a more equal society.
Perdita Hunt, the director of the Watts Gallery in Surrey, believes multi-strand funding is the key, as museums can no longer rely on the state or their local authority. She would like to see policies around enterprise and the link between culture and tourism in placemaking, alongside a focus on the power of art to transform lives and improve wellbeing.
Keith Merrin, the director of the Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland, says he would like to see a focus on widening access to culture and heritage, but also on creating “meaningful” national partnerships. There is still a situation in which national tours end up costing regional museums, he says, because only the London- based costs have been met, and this needs to be resolved.
Speaking at a debate on regional support for the arts earlier this year, Vaizey emphasised his belief in the power of cultural placemaking, and suggested that the paper would give the DCMS a platform to formalise relationships with other government departments.
But there is a question mark over whether there will be sufficient parliamentary time to deal with it.
As this issue of Museums Journal went to press, the DCMS had no timetable for the paper. A spokesman said that it would be launched “in the coming months”.
The Museums Association (MA), National Museum Directors’ Council and Association of Independent Museums are waiting for the launch of the paper before making a formal response.
But David Fleming, the MA’s president and the director of National Museums Liverpool, says he thinks it is “fantastic that the government is acknowledging that there hasn’t been a vision or agenda in the sector, and it is time there was”.
In particular, Fleming would like to see the paper address the value of the social impact that museums have because “that is the way that government expenditure on museums is best explained”.
Museums have been “hamstrung by the lack of government policy” in the past, he thinks, and it is now up to the sector to make sure that it doesn’t just become a discussion about funding. The DCMS is inviting comments via its website
What the last white paper said
The exclusion of so many for so long from the best of our cultural heritage can become as damaging to the privileged minority as to the under-privileged majority. New ideas, new values and involvement of large sections of the community hitherto given little or no opportunity to appreciate the best in the arts, all have their place.
Jennie Lee, A Policy For The Arts: The First Steps, 1965 Sector prepares responses to government plan to develop the first white paper for the arts in half a century.