Fiddling while Rome burns

How the Labour government, in fact any Labour government, only ever pays lip service to our fabulous arts.

Not what it once was…

For several months before the election, I suspected the worst. But in actual terms, it was on the day itself, when the much-vaunted Thangam Debbonaire, an actual artist and shoo-in for Culture Secretary, failed to win her seat, that I knew that Labour in 2024 was going to be the same old Labour, as far as significant backing for the arts was concerned. In other words, nothing to see here.

Debbonaire was the only person who appeared committed to speaking up for our cultural landscape and without her, the silence from Downing Street is devastating. Even if she had retained her seat, she might well have been relegated to cheerleader status without any real power.

Labour, of course, has always been profoundly terrified of being seen to support a public service which might possibly be regarded as ‘posh’ or ‘elitist’. There are many examples of this, but possibly the most egregious was the Blair government’s choice to force The Queen to lead our national celebration of the Millennium in the commercially-focused Dome rather where she should have gone, namely to newly-opened and globally lauded Tate Modern. Frankly, the last time any British government provided more than lip service towards our cultural services was in 1994, when Culture Secretary Virginia Bottomley persuaded the Major government to include the arts as one of the five Good Causes for the newly arrived Lottery.

HM in the wrong building completely

Even organisations which one imagines would be on side, are not. The ‘arms length’ Arts Council of England, whose Let’s Create policy insists on funding the Blackpool Illuminations under the same terms as the Royal Ballet, has firmly said there is no more money. For anyone. Let’s Create continues, and the actual Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who seems perfectly nice but has yet to show any interest, knowledge or real commitment to the arts, has not done anything either.

But wait! There has been one appointment who might have provided a light in the fiscal darkness. Enter former priest Sir Chris Bryant MP, who is Minister for the Arts (in England). He’s a supporter, isn’t he? Excitingly, this week, he gave the nation a sneaky peek of an exciting new arts policy. His first. This week Sir Chris spoke up! In an interview to the Financial Times, no less. The link is here. And what did he say his big arty plan was? That he is committed to “tweaking the dial” of…..drumroll, please….the Government Art Collection.

Lord Byron in Albanian dress (1813), by Thomas Philips

In case you had no idea the government actually had an Art Collection, it does. And it is no small thing, indeed it comprises around 15,000 paintings, prints, sculptures and so on, by British artists like Turner and Paula Rego and is dotted around various government buildings in the UK and embassies around the world. The picture shown above, Lord Byron in Albanian Dress by Thomas Philips, hangs in the British embassy in Athens. Bryant’s Big Idea is to enable more people around the world to see pictures like this, or in his words, “to boost public engagement.” The way Sir Chris describes his idea sounds a bit like how a GP might prescribe a course of laxatives. “In the past, it’s got a bit stuck in embassies, consulates and minister’s offices and we are very keen to change that.”

Talk about fiddling while Rome burns. The Government Art Collection is very nice, but it is not what most people might consider to be our national collection. Access to it has been achieved before, anyway, only 13 years ago at an exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London which put a selection of it on public display. So this idea is not only insulting, it is unoriginal. It is also misguided.

Our national collection, which doesn’t only feature British artists, is not in the British embassy in Athens, or any other embassy. It is in our museums, galleries and palaces across the nation. And here, the story is a grim one. Indeed, visitor levels to these places has not recovered since Covid. If we are talking about boosting public engagement anywhere, this is where Bryant needs to devote his energies.

In 2019 the National Gallery, had 5.5 million visitors. The latest figures reveal it was visited in 2023 by just 3.1 million people, which is a decline of 48%. Tate Britain and Tate Liverpool saw a 40% decrease in visitor figures. Even Tate Modern, which when it opened became the world’s most popular modern art gallery, is still 1 million visitors down. Never mind that entrance to most of these places is free. This translates into a huge financial blow, of exhibition ticket sales, coffees and lunches, postcards and the rest, for each institution.

Indeed, there is a devastating account of Tate’s lacklustre performance under its current director Maria Balshaw by critic JJ Charlesworth here in the Spectator. Charlesworth reveals that Tate, far from being the wondrous global phenomenon that we all thought it was, is actually rather strapped for cash with a deficit of £8.7 million, and I understand Balshaw is currently asking the government for a £10 million bailout.

Then there are the minnows; small, beautiful galleries dotted around the country, many of which were funded and built at the turn of the millennium with Lottery money, and all of which are in deep financial peril. They too must be acknowledged by the Arts Minister if we are going to discuss our national holdings, and their fate, which is by no means certain, is far more important than the Government Art Collection as they are built within and service the community right across the nations and regions. I happen to be chair of one, namely Firstsite, in Colchester. Firstsite, like its peers MK Gallery (Milton Keynes), Turner Contemporary (Margate), Towner (Eastbourne) and Lightbox (Woking) has not had an uplift of its annual Arts Council grant, and the money given by cash-strapped local authorities to these places is dwindling almost by the minute.

Of course everyone is terrified of upsetting the Arts Council and is therefore doggedly committed to the terms of Let’s Create, which insists that a) its grantees seek out new and ‘dynamic’ ways of making money, but which also b) would like galleries to be free of charge to enter, c) accessible to everyone and d) have a decent community engagement plan. For children. Who, when I last looked, don’t bring in much of their own income.

If the Arts Council of England isn’t careful, not just one but potentially all of these institutions, most of which were built with public money, are in danger of folding entirely.

The irony would be amusing if it wasn’t so outrageous. Why on earth is Sir Chris Bryant, whom I believe to be a sensible and quite smart person, getting excited about establishing access to some pictures by (say) Turner, when both Turner Contemporary, built with Lottery money to celebrate the artist’s love of Margate, and the entire Turner Bequest, housed at huge public expense in the Clore Gallery at Tate Britain, are in danger of being mothballed?

Hoorah! You might be able to have access to this cracking work

I will tell you why. It’s because promoting “access” to this painting of George V which is thought to be by Luke Fildes, and which currently hangs in Tunisia, is low-hanging, ermine clad fruit. It is a perfect example of the Labour government having something both ways. Austerity with regard to public spending will remind its detractors that the government is not indulging its traditional luvvie support base, yet Sir Chris’ big idea will also demonstrate that Labour is fashionably ‘on the side’ of the arts and keen on opening up engagement. Punting for creativity! Supporting soft power! Up for access! Sharing the treasures of the nation! And all that other stuff.

Will Lisa Nandy put real cash into real institutions which are tottering on the brink of financial collapse, and which hold and represent the actual national collection? I doubt it. She doesn’t dare to, as No 10 would never support such a venture. And so one of the enduring elements of the nation, namely our colossal cultural heft, both past and present, is left exposed and at risk of total collapse. It is a bad way to start the year.

Thank you for reading The Arts Stack. See you next week.