We want the arts to be...

1 Available from childhood

2 Accessible to all

3 Thriving everywhere

The most deprived people have the least engagement with the arts and their benefits

Students from ethnic minorities are significantly under-represented on arts courses at Higher Education level

Funding for British public libraries has more than halved since 2009/10

83% of English adults agree that libraries are currently accessible to anyone, whoever they are.¹ But funding of public libraries continues to fall. Between 2010 and 2019, 773 libraries closed: almost 1 in 5.²

For those trying to sustain a career in the arts, the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated many inequalities

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The impact of the pandemic has aggravated and accelerated existing inequalities and longer term trends across the arts and cultural sector. Those individuals and communities who were already under-represented in the cultural workforce were more likely to leave cultural jobs in 2020 than those who already dominated many key roles in the cultural sector and wider economy. Places with a history of obtaining public investment – and the arts and cultural organisations based in those places – benefited most from the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF); those places without this capacity generally did not.