Sho Shibata (OAUK Director) on Local Authority Cuts

Dear Members,

This is my first OAUK members newsletter since starting as its Director on 19th February. I’m really looking forward to working with you to celebrate and grow the wonderful sector that we work in. I’m conscious that my journey with OAUK is starting in challenging times, but this makes it even more important that we collectivise and advocate for the sector as one.

All of us at OutdoorArtsUK are devastated to hear of multiple stories of local authority funding cuts for arts and culture, which is undoubtedly having a significant impact on our sector. Councillor Liz Green wrote an interesting piece in Arts Professional recently, which gives us an insight into collective action we can take. Liz Green is the chair of Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, and she has called on the cultural sector to work strategically with their local authorities and partners in this difficult period.

She says:

“These strategies will enhance the area’s ability to attract funding from grantmakers and investors, and hopefully provide greater security for cultural workers in the area.”

Liz reckons that strategising collectively will help the local authorities lobby government to stabilise the funding situation, and calls on our outside perspective to tell them how they can do things differently for culture and the wider services. Given that high-quality arts and culture can have a wider social impact, this is a valuable, worthwhile ask.

Read the article in full here.

Supporting strategic collaboration to advocate for local cultural investment is something OutdoorArtsUK is committed to doing with our members. Do get in touch if you would like a conversation – you can contact Sho here.

Birmingham is the most recent local authority to have announced cuts to Arts and Culture, and you can see that colleagues there are starting to get organised here.

Here’s a collective response about Birmingham City Council cuts by Fabric, who leads on Birmingham International Dance Festival, here.

Here’s The Guardian article featuring condemnation of Birmingham’s cuts to culture by Joe Lycett, Carlos Acosta and Duran Duran.

Culture Central in West Midlands ran a collective campaign from 27th Feb to 6th Mar, which you can see here.

In terms of what solutions local authorities might take up, Room 151 has done an interesting article. The article starts with an overview of our local authorities’ financial state to set the context. The CEO of Arts Council England also wrote in the online magazine Public Finance advocating for Local Government investment in Arts and Culture.