Is ‘Levelling Up’ truly transforming the UK arts, or just reshuffling the deck? Iris dives into how government policy is impacting both London and regional arts, revealing why current initiatives might be a double-edged sword for a sector already at crisis point.
The UK’s art sector has notoriously been struggling for a long time. In many ways, the arts have reached a crisis point with significant funding cuts, shrinking budgets and increasing operational costs, which have impacted organisations of all sizes. But the government’s “Levelling Up” agenda, which is being executed through Arts Council England (ACE)’s decisions to shift the money away from London, has been presented as a transformational force for the arts.
But on closer inspection, while some regional organisations have seen an uplift, we can see that these initiatives look more like a reshuffle of already slim budgets. This risks leaving many regional arts programmes still precariously funded, which raises questions about the true sustainability and depth of this ‘rebalance’. The policies, in their current form, risk creating new vulnerabilities if the situation with regional funding goes unaddressed.
First, a bit of context. Back in February 2022, the UK’s government published its ‘Levelling up the UK’ White Paper, which aimed to address regional imbalances by putting more money into the areas of the country with the lowest cultural investment. It’s all very dry, but the government has been crucially working with Arts Council England to identify and support these places since 2023.
Together, they’ve essentially targeted their funding towards places like Stoke-on-Trent, Wigan, Slough and other underfunded parts of the UK. Because of this, 215 new organisations have received funding outside of London, which will supposedly push regional investing by about 22%.
The ‘London Sacrifice’ hasn’t been without its controversies, with sizeable cuts to major institutions like the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Barbican Arts Centre. The National Theatre’s Art Director, Rufus Norris, was widely quoted when he described these initiatives as ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’. There is a fear that rather than genuinely growing the national arts pie, it’s just being sliced differently. So despite being a hotbed for the UK’s artistic culture, this also leaves London at risk.
So what does this mean for the regions? Well, there is reason for there to be a genuine excitement towards these newly funded regional organisations. According to Campaign For The Arts, Nottingham’s Backlit, Southampton’s A Space Arts, Sheffield’s Arts Catalyst, and hundreds of other organisations involved in the visual arts are set to receive a combined total of nearly £48m in the next year from ACE. These are undeniably important steps.
But we must question whether this will truly represent a boost in the UK’s artistic infrastructure and create new hubs, or if the initiatives are simply bolstering up existing but struggling organisations – ‘keeping the lights on’, so to speak. As of yet, we’re not sure whether this funding cycle will be enough for these new, exciting regional programmes to truly embed themselves and become sustainable. This has been the case for Newcastle’s Side Gallery, for example.
In many cases, it’s also possible that these areas lack the infrastructure to get the best out of their funding. Skilled, talented workforces and enthusiastic audiences are also vital in this. Could ACE therefore be investing more sufficiently into the ‘ecosystems’ around the organisations?
Also worth mentioning are the challenges with local authorities. Local authority arts funding has been decimated over the past decade, and so, while the ACE are shifting funds, many regional arts organisations are often facing a ‘double whammy’ – the expectations from the government are up, but the local support remains down, something that the agenda seems to have overlooked.
It’s clear that the ‘levelling up’ of the arts in regional Britain is well-intentioned and shows an evident desire to democratise access and build new creative hubs. But the danger is that the ‘levelling up’ narrative obscures a continually underfunded overall sector, which may leave both London and the regions of the UK vulnerable. Again, the initiatives risk being more of a reallocation of scarce resources than a genuine surge in investment. For true ‘levelling up’ to happen, the arts need an ongoing, significant increase in overall investments. The support for local authorities also needs to be more robust, as well as the understandings of the different needs and challenges of different areas. Simple as.