The Campaign for the Arts has today launched a new national petition calling on the UK Government to ensure the arts and culture sector can play a full part in their promised “decade of national renewal”.
The petition urges Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reverse recent cuts to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and invest in artists and cultural organisations in her ongoing Spending Review, which concludes on June 11th and sets government departments’ budgets until at least 2029. The size of the DCMS settlement will affect, among other things, the total funding available for Arts Council England’s next National Portfolio.
Last July, the Campaign for the Arts published a landmark report, The State of the Arts, together with the University of Warwick, which found that the UK has one of the lowest levels of government spending on culture among European nations.
New analysis has revealed a 6% cut in the DCMS budget already this fiscal year, taking the fall in funding per citizen since 2010 to almost a third in real terms. This erosion threatens vital cultural institutions like the British Film Institute, the British Library, Historic England, the 15 DCMS-sponsored national museums and galleries, Arts Council England and the nearly 1,000 organisations it funds – as well as the wider cultural ecology.
The Spending Review is a pivotal moment to act on these findings. Campaign for the Arts supporters are making three clear asks of the Chancellor, so that the arts and culture sector can catalyse national renewal:
- Restore the funding removed from the DCMS budget this year by 2026–27.
- Sustain real-terms growth in DCMS budgets in each year of the Spending Review period, as is planned for overall departmental spending.
- Extend the Government’s commitment to growing funding for schools and local councils, both of which are vital for public access to the arts.
Jack Gamble, Director of the Campaign for the Arts, said:
“The UK Government has promised a decade of national renewal, but their current plans involve cutting funds from the department responsible for culture, which is fundamental to that renewal. The arts matter to millions of people across the UK, and we’re inviting everybody to add their voice at this pivotal moment. The arts aren’t an optional extra – they are an essential ingredient in a healthy and flourishing society.”
Samuel West, actor and director, and trustee of the Campaign for the Arts, said:
“The arts are social glue. Through the arts we become happier, healthier, more comfortable with ourselves and more understanding of others. We become a nation. But the infrastructure that supports future creators has been more than decimated – it’s been hollowed out. This is a moment for the Chancellor to choose: whether to continue the slow decline of arts funding until 2029, or whether to turn the tide.”
