UK Edition
Museums and galleries might face cuts unless they 'engage' disadvantaged youngsters
Museums and galleries could face cuts in their public funding unless they prove they are engaging disadvantaged young people in the arts, a landmark government white paper has suggested.
The paper ruled all organisations in receipt of public money "must show they are reaching out" to increase access, launching a dedicated work experience-style scheme to show those from poorer communities the arts is for them.
Launched by Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, the white paper is the first to examine the culture sector in 50 years and is intended to lay out strategy for galleries and museums in the years to come.
Among its proposals includes a Cultural Citizens Programme, which will introduce youngsters to actors, directors and curators, and a formal insistence on widening the type of visitors to institutions.
"We are challenging arts and cultural organisations to work even harder to make sure the most disadvantaged in society have greater opportunities to access culture," it states.
"We will work with Arts Council England to ensure that every single cultural organisation that receives taxpayers’ money contributes to fulfilling this duty. And they will report on progress made."
Mr Vaizey said he preferred the "carrot to the stick", encouraging museums and galleries to do the right thing, but that "tough questions" should be asked by anyone who did not choose to comply.
"While it may be put in reasonable terms, the focus on access to the arts is something that's felt very strongly at the very highest levels," he said.
"It would be reasonable for the Arts Council and Heritage Lottery Fund to ask very tough questions to any organisation that wanted to receive public funding, about whether or not they are going to make sure their product is going to reach out to everyone."
When asked for specific details of financial repercussions, he added: "We're starting with carrot; the stick will only come later. But I think most people want to come on this journey with us so we're talking to a willing sector which wants to see change."
On diversity, the paper adds Arts Council England will from this year publish data to on its executives, to combat "too few people from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, or who are disabled, work[ing] at the highest levels in cultural organisations."
Elsewhere, the paper pledged £30m to a Cultural Protection Fund, designed to help preserve heritage in war zones around the world.
The Great Place Scheme will attempt to unite local authorities with their arts institutions and national bodies to make the most of their area's heritage.
And a further £3m will be put into "heritage action zones" to help save sites of architectural and cultural significance, combating the idea the buildings are "too risky to take on because of their heritage status".
The paper also announced a new Museums Review, the first from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in a decade, which will re-examine the running of local and regional museums in 2017.
In particular, it is aimed at convincing institutions to take as much of their collection out of storage as possible, plucking artefacts out of the archives to show more of Britain's treasures off.
Mr Vaizey also reassured national museums the government fully supports free access to their permanent collections, batting away the perennial question of whether they may soon have to charge for entry.
The paper was broadly welcomed in official responses from invested organisations, with Sir Peter Bazalgette, chairman of Arts Council England, saying "it contains a number of proposals that we look forward to helping the Government deliver".