Protests and boycotts are killing off the arts in Britain

The arts are central to our chance to live richer, larger lives – but they’re at risk from the self-defeating virtue signalling that has become a feature of our times, says culture secretary Lisa Nandy

Lisa Nandy’s father was on the board of the National Theatre (Getty)

This country must always resist the temptation to see the arts as a luxury.

The visual arts, music, film, theatre, opera, spoken word, poetry, literature and dance are the building blocks of our cultural life.

We export music, film and literature all over the world. We attract investment to every part of the UK from every part of the globe.

George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.”

That belief that arts matter in and of themselves – central to the chance to live richer, larger lives – has animated every Labour government in history and animates us still.

As the prime minister said in September last year: “Everyone deserves the chance to be touched by art. Everyone deserves access to moments that light up their lives.”

But who now in Britain can claim that this is the case? Whether it is the running down of arts subjects, the narrowing of the curriculum and the labelling of arts subjects as “mickey mouse”, enrichment funding in schools eroded at the stroke of the pen or the closure of much-needed community spaces as council funding has been slashed.

Culture and creativity has been erased, from our classrooms and our communities.

Is it any wonder that the number of students taking arts GSCEs has dropped by almost half since 2010?

This is madness. At a time when the creative industries offer such potential for growth, good jobs and self-expression in every part of our country - and a lack of skills acts as the single biggest brake on them, we have had politicians who use them as a tool in their ongoing, exhausting culture wars.

The Arts Everywhere fund I have announced – over £270m in investment – will begin to fix the foundations of our arts venues, museums, libraries and our heritage sector in communities across the country.

We believe in them. And we will back them.

In many ways I grew up in the theatre. My dad was on the board of the National Theatre, and as a child my sister and I would travel to London on the weekends we had with our dad to see some of the greatest actors and directors on earth – Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Tom Baker, Trevor Nunn and Sam Mendes.

We saw Chekhov, Arthur Miller and Brecht reimagined by the National, the Donmar and the Royal Court.

It was never, in our house, a zero-sum game.

Every person in this country matters. But while talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. This cannot continue. That is why our vision is not access or excellence but access to excellence. We will accept nothing less.

In the last few days I have seen British politicians who offer cheap solutions to our communities’ many problems, talk of imposing culture on our nation.

Would this include the rich cultural heritage from the American South that the Beatles drew inspiration from, in a city that has been shaped by its role in welcoming visitors from across the world?

Would it accommodate Northern Soul, which my town in Wigan led the world in?

We believe the proper role of government is not to impose culture, but to enable artists to hold a mirror up to society and to us. To help us understand the world we’re in and shape and define the nation.

If the first arts minister, Jennie Lee, who served in Harold Wilson’s Labour government, were alive today, I believe the farce that is the moral puritanism killing off our arts and culture (along with the protests against any or every sponsor of the arts), would have both angered and ashamed her. And this in the regions and for artistic talent all over the country where the reach of funding and donors is already not long enough.

In every social protest – and I have taken part in plenty – you have to ask: who is your target? The idea that boycotting the sponsor of the Hay Festival harms the sponsor, not the festival, is for the birds.

And I have spent enough time at Hay, Glastonbury and elsewhere to know that these are the spaces – the only spaces – where precisely the moral voice and protest comes from. Boycotting sponsors, and killing them off, is the equivalent of gagging society. This self-defeating virtue signalling is though, a feature of our times.

Because I think we are the only political force, right now, that believes that it is not for the government to dictate what should be heard.

But there is one area where we will never be neutral and that is on who should be heard.

Too much of our rich inheritance, heritage and culture is not seen. And when it is not, not only is the whole nation poorer because talent is everywhere but opportunity is not, but the country suffers. It is our firm belief that at the heart of Britain’s current malaise is the fact that too many people have been written off and written out of our national story.

We are determined that this entire nation must see themselves at the centre of their own and our national story. That’s a challenge for our broadcasters and filmmakers. Show us the full panoply of the world we live in, including the many communities far distant from the commissioning room, which is still far too often in London.

But it’s also a challenge for every branch of the arts, including the theatre, dance, music, painting and sculpture. Let’s show working-class communities too – and not just featuring in murder and gangland crime series.

Part of how we discover that new national story is by breathing fresh life into local heritage and reviving culture in places where it is disappearing.

Which is why we’re freeing up almost £5m of funding for community organisations – groups who know what their area needs far better than government and groups determined to bring derelict and neglected old buildings back into good use.

We will make sure that arts are for everyone, wherever they live and whatever their background. With excellence and access.

Every child and adult should also have more opportunity to access live theatre, dance and music and we need you to throw open your doors.

The community spaces needed – whether centres, theatres or libraries – are too often closed to those who need them most.

This is not a moment for despair. This is our moment to ensure the arts remain central to the life of this nation for decades to come and in turn that this nation flourishes.

This government has made it our mission to support a growing economy, so that we have a healthy, safe nation where people have opportunities not currently on offer – the recovery of our nation cannot be all bread and no roses. Our shared future depends critically on every one of us rising to this moment.

To give voice to the nation we are, and can be.

To let hope and history rhyme.

So let no one say it falls to others. It falls to us.

This article is a version of the inaugural Jennie Lee lecture, delivered by Lisa Nandy on 20 February