Two time Oscar Winner Kevin Spacey has joined with London Mayor Boris Johnson in appealing to UK businesses to continue to support London Attractions and the capital’s art scene.
According to the London-based nonprofit organisation Arts & Business, the amount of money spent on the arts by businesses in the U.K. has been cut by over 50%. Their findings also show that these large businesses do not plan to increase their spending in the arts sector until at least the start of 2011, which could signal a funding crisis for some of London’s best loved cultural institutions.
Businesses in the U.K. are cutting spending on the arts, and aren’t planning to increase it until 2011, according to a survey by the London-based nonprofit organization Arts & Business.
The quarterly survey polled 240 cultural organizations and 32 businesses in July. Among arts groups, 68.2 percent reported decreased levels of business investment, and more than half of those said they suffered a drop exceeding 50 percent.
The report was presented at a panel discussion with actor Kevin Spacey, who is artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
“The question is not what can the economy do for the arts, it’s what can the arts do for the economy,” said Spacey in a room full of Turner and Constable paintings at the Victoria & Albert Museum. “Instead of apologetically holding our hat in our hands,” he said, arts bodies should show the economic potential of “what is called, after all, show business.”
Business and the arts could go hand in hand, Spacey said. The cultural regeneration of London’s South Bank, where his theater is located, has generated revenue for hotels, restaurants, and even street musicians, he said.
Urban Culture
“I don’t want to see another property development without a cultural center at the heart of it,” he said.
The report showed that out of the businesses polled, which together invested 4 million pounds ($6.5 million) in the arts last year, a total of 41.9 percent reduced spending over the three-month period. One in four respondents cut funding by more than 50 percent. Overall, respondents said they didn’t expect year-on-year growth in their arts spending until 2011.
“It is the arts that give this city its unique selling point,” said Mayor Johnson. He said that the tourism industry generated 10 billion pounds a year for London and the surrounding region, and that arts institutions were a prime factor. He suggested there be voluntary contributions to London museums as there are in New York, a city he recently visited.
In a release added to the report, Arts & Business Chief Executive Colin Tweedy said the economic crisis had “radically altered the commercial and cultural landscape in the U.K.”
Tweedy, whose job is to drum up U.K. non-governmental investment in the arts, said efforts must be made “to ensure that the private sector, which will recover from the recession long before the public sector, maintains and increases its contribution to the arts.”
- Kevin Spacey
The report was presented at a panel discussion with actor Kevin Spacey, who is artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
“The question is not what can the economy do for the arts, it’s what can the arts do for the economy,” said Spacey. The actor and Artistic Director of London’s Old Vic Theatre made an excellent point about how in London big business frequently relies upon the success of the arts. London’s South Bank is an good example, since regeneration in that area was only possible through the huge popularity of the many theatres, galleries and music venues.
The Arts & Business report showed that out of the businesses polled, which together invested 4 million pounds ($6.5 million) in the arts last year, a total of 41.9 percent reduced spending over the three-month period. One in four respondents cut funding by more than 50 percent. Overall, respondents said they didn’t expect year-on-year growth in their arts spending until 2011.
