Miller: sector must hammer home the economic value of culture - Museums Association

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Miller: sector must hammer home the economic value of culture

Culture secretary gives first keynote address to sector
The culture secretary Maria Miller has called on the sector to help her make the economic case for investing in the arts.

In her first keynote address to the sector, Miller said: “Today I want to argue that culture does not simply have a role to play in bringing about a return to growth. Rather, it should be central to these efforts.

“Understanding the economic potential which the arts and culture offer both directly and indirectly is essential. The arts are not an add-on; they are fundamental to our success as a nation.”

At the event at the British Museum in London, the culture secretary said she was already making the economic case for investment in arts and culture to the Treasury, ahead of the next spending review, but called on the sector to help her “hammer home the value of culture to our economy”.

And although she acknowledged that the economic case for culture was not the only one that has to be made, Miller said that leaders in the cultural sector had to have the confidence to go beyond intrinsic benefits such as education and wellbeing, and “more directly point out how [they] can directly add to the bottom line”.

She pointed to philanthropy as a crucial part of the government’s longer-term strategy to fund the arts as well as “international opportunities” that will benefit Britain.

"Similarly we must look to develop the commercial opportunities that exist within the cultural sector," Miller added. "[...] entrepreneurial endeavour doesn’t come at the price of cultural excellence."

And she dismissed protecting the budget for arts and culture: “Faced with a crippling budget deficit, there are big choices to be made at both a national and a local level, few of which are easy, or palatable… Some in the sector say that arts funding should be treated as a special case. [But] culture cannot be seen in isolation at a time of unprecedented economic challenge.”

Also speaking at the event, Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, said: “The culture sector is the most effective and efficient, and in economic terms it’s the best run in the world.”

He added that, in her discussions with the Treasury, Miller could “argue with confidence that the sector is uniquely well run”.

Also at the address, Ed Vaizey, culture minister, said the publication of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's cultural plan is “imminent”. No further details are available at present.

Click here to read Maria Miller's full speech

See reaction to the speech on Twitter under hashtag #culturematters


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