Voters want to see investment in their local cultural scene. Cultural funding is a vote winner, plain and simple. When Windsor and Maidenhead Council proposed a 100% cut to arts funding for their 2022-23 budget, the outcry from their constituents and the campaign against it – led in part by the excellent work of Public Campaign for the Arts – led to the Council not only reversing their decision but proposing an increase in spend of 17%.

Candidates in May’s elections would do well to look to the example of Windsor and Maidenhead to see how strongly people feel about what theatre and culture brings to their community.