Hodge Review of Arts Council England: Government Response

We are a nation of storytellers. Through literature, television, film, music, fashion, dance and drama, and through our galleries, our libraries and our museums, we light up the world. In a time when it feels like we have lost our ability to understand one another, the arts are an essential force for good in a divided nation and our gift to a troubled world.

But in this last, lost decade, the arts have been treated as an unaffordable luxury—or worse, as a nuisance or a weapon for Governments in their ongoing, exhausting culture wars. Culture and creativity have been erased from too many classrooms and communities, the routes for working-class artists and performers have narrowed almost to the point of extinction and the contribution of most of us, in places with a proud history of culture and contribution, has been written off. As a result, too many of us no longer see ourselves reflected in the story we tell ourselves, about ourselves, as a nation.

An inclusive national story does not mean making movies where posh boys play gangsters. It means harnessing the strength of our nation; the extraordinary diversity of our people, places, traditions and disciplines—across ballet, northern soul, opera and street art—that creates one of the most vibrant, sought-after artistic scenes in the world, drawing on the contribution of the whole nation and all the people in it. All of us deserve the chance to be part of it and, in turn, we need all of us to sustain it.

We have put arts back at the centre of the curriculum, worked with our national institutions to bring collections out of the basement and into our communities and launched a new town of culture contest to recognise the cultural contribution of our whole country.

We have announced the biggest capital uplift to the arts in a generation so that the battle to keep the lights on and the doors open for institutions—especially outside of London—is no longer the struggle it has been for so long.

But we are impatient for change and our country deserves more. That is why I asked Baroness Hodge of Barking to review the role of the Arts Council, to ensure that this most precious institution, founded by a visionary generation who put arts and culture at the heart of our efforts to rebuild a nation after war, can thrive for generations to come.

We are convinced that her vision will help us to anchor our arts in our people and places, and help us to recover our sense of self-confidence as a nation and turn outwards to the world.

That is why we are accepting every recommendation made by the Hodge review.

This is not a licence for business as usual. For so long arts organisations have had to exist day to day, focusing on protecting and preserving our institutions. We will work with them to rebuild the foundations but in return ask them to blow the doors off, to become anchors in our communities, enable access to excellence everywhere and provide the chance for every person in our country to live richer, larger lives.

This Government believe that the arts are for everyone, everywhere. We know this vision is shared by people across the country and together, through the actions outlined in this report, we will write the next chapter in our nation’s story.

I will place a copy of the Government’s response in the Libraries of both Houses.

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