It’s important to say that access to the arts, and pursuing art as a career, is still not equitable. While in-person attendance or participation in the arts went up last year in England, the gap between the most and least deprived 10% of people hasn’t changed, according to Campaign for the Arts. Another study found that 90% of arts and culture workers in the UK are white, fewer than one in 10 are working class, and only 20% are disabled.

“The current political and social reality is that people don’t even consider the arts as a viable career because they feel like they can’t afford to maintain a living in a creative field,” says Charlene Prempeh, writer, curator and founder of A Vibe Called Tech, a creative agency which prioritises intersectionality. “This has been exacerbated further by the cost-of-living crisis and an erosion of support for arts funding across the board.” Research by Equity has found that local government arts funding has fallen by a huge 55% across Britain since 2010, and this drop in funding is set to continue. The UK government is planning to spend over a third less per citizen on the Department for Culture, Media & Sport by 2029 compared with what it spent in 2010.

It’s the same story for young people. Since 2011, there’s been a 23% reduction in the number of hours of arts teaching in English state-funded secondary schools. And it seems that this decline in teaching has had a direct impact on what students are choosing for their futures, because between 2010 and 2022, there was a 42% decline in entries in creative and technical subjects at GCSE. It’s worth noting that the arts have become even more valued in private schools over this time, with investment in new arts facilities and academic strategies on the rise.