On Thursday 14 January the RSA and Arts Council England held their first ‘State of the Arts’ conference, which they hope will become an annual event. The conference brought together a wide range of high profile speakers to discuss arts policy and debate the purpose and value of the arts at a time of major change.
Chaired by RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor and Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of the Arts Council, speakers included Jeremy Hunt MP, Ben Bradshaw MP, Jude Kelly from the Southbank Centre and Nicholas Hytner from the National Theatre.
Jeremy Hunt talked about Conservative plans to restore lottery funds to the four original good causes, bear down on quango administration costs; philanthropy including simplifying Gift Aid and lifetime giving, and incentives to build up endowments and a better culture of asking for contributions.
Meanwhile Ben Bradshaw talked about how the size of Britain’s creative economy as a proportion of our overall economy is now the biggest in the world at around 10% of GDP, and stated that it has been a wonderful decade for the arts, partly as a result of sustained Government investment. He also pointed out that access and excellence must go hand in hand.