The story goes that when Winston Churchill was asked to cut funding to the arts during the Second World War, he responded: “Then what are we fighting for?”
We live in less dramatic times now, but those words resonated with Cornerhouse chief executive Dave Moutrey this week as he surveyed an arts scene in Greater Manchester that is braced for savage – possibly terminal – cuts.
Halle and Royal Exchange among cultural gems hit by Arts Council cuts
Full list of who's been hit by the cuts - and how much they have lost
As the Arts Council pulled hundreds of thousands of pounds out of theatres, galleries, museums, cinemas and other cultural venues across the region yesterday – with the prospect of more to come from the Association Of Greater Manchester Authorities on Friday – our cultural landscape has rarely looked bleaker.
And Moutrey believes some of our more financially fragile organisations won’t survive this attack on their foundations.
“This is the biggest challenge to face the arts since the Second World War,” he said. “It has been based on a political decision that we all have the same level of pain, because economically it makes no sense.
“I strongly believe that cuts to arts funding are shortsighted. Most arts organisations generate far more wealth for the economy than they consume, and I would urge our funders to consider this powerful positive economic effect as they put their plans in place.
“For instance, the amount that theatres return in VAT alone is huge. They are not a drain on society.
“Last year, Cornerhouse put £7 back for every £1 of Arts Council funding, and contributed £6.2m to the Greater Manchester economy.
“I accept that the people making the cuts are in an invidious position. AGMA has no choice but to review its spending, but I hope they limit their cuts as much as possible. It’s a no-win situation.
Halle and Royal Exchange among cultural gems hit by Arts Council cuts
“However, people should realise that when it comes to public funding for the arts, it’s a small amount of money – that makes a huge difference to people’s lives.”
The cuts come as the Oxford Road cinema and gallery celebrates its 25th anniversary. Moutrey can remember the state of the arts scene in the city when he first arrived here – and hopes we are not sliding back to the dark days of the Eighties.
“The cultural landscape is very different now from when I started here. Then, we were just seeing the gradual re-opening of theatres in the city centre.
“So much of Manchester’s regeneration, the big projects that have changed the city, have been based around the arts.”
Mulling over the shift in the financial landscape, the Royal Exchange Theatre’s executive director Fiona Gasper says: “It’s almost like we’re about to go into a totally new era of arts funding.”
The Manchester theatre faces the same problems as its cultural counterparts – the most immediate of which is how to deal with the loss of nearly seven per cent of its Arts Council money.
“What it will mean, in practical terms, is a mix of increasing income and cutting expenditure,” say Gasper. “Box office generally around the country has been very buoyant in the last two or three years. We will increase those targets, increase prices slightly to get in the income and, through that, hopefully, there will be more ancillary income coming in through bars and catering.”
At the same time as big theatres are having to cut their budgets, a variety of grass roots arts projects are feeling the cuts. The only good news on the horizon, to sustain fresh energy in the arts, says Gasper, will be the return of Lottery funding after the 2012 London Olympics.
“When the arts are put up against things like social care, education and health, it’s difficult to say they are a priority,” she adds. “But we would all notice if the world in which we lived did not have the arts. When it comes to tourism, we are seen as a shining light in terms of the cultural offer. People flock to cities for culture.
“Look at the proliferation of singing and dance programmes on telly at the moment. A lot of that starts off as funded. It doesn’t come out of nowhere.”
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I agree with all of that and indeed more. Museums, galleries, festivals and arts are a vital part of the local economy and major contributor to tourism and inward investment - they reflect and create the character and vibrancy of our towns and cities and they lead on regeneration. Moreover they are a direct part of rather than alternative to healthcare, social welfare and education, contributing to society right across the spectrum. The NHS, welfare charities and schools all need and want vital cultural programmes to help them deliver to their objectives. These sound like soft outputs, but they make real and lasting savings in public spending - preventing people with depression developing more acute mental illness - keeping elderly people active, engaged and independent - and inspiring school children to attain and aspire to fulfilling careers. The cost to the public purse of mental illness, dementia and an underskilled workforce is far more that the savings being made to the arts budgets which deliver extremely high levels of value for the investments made.
The slogan of this Government?
Save the banks. Screw the People.
If the venues are the economic power houses that they are implied to be, pulling people into the city from far and wide, then they obviously don't need subsidising.