Local galleries need urgent money so people can 'escape' cost of living crisis, MPs warn

Today a report by Parliament’s cross-party Culture Select Committee calls for urgent action over theatres, museums and leisure centres facing an “existential threat”.

It said the Government needs to tackle funding imbalances in arts and culture in order to level up the UK.

The committee said that targeted support such as VAT and business rate relief must be brought forward to prevent “exacerbating long-term scarring” of institutions already hit hard by the pandemic.

Julian Knight, the committee chairman, said: “With spiralling energy bills exacerbating the scars inflicted by the pandemic, the Government must come forward with targeted support to ensure local organisations are not hit by a wave of closures at a time when art and culture is more important than ever in providing people with an escape from the harsh realities of the cost-of-living crisis.

“In the longer term, a new model of funding is needed which stops cash for culture being hoovered up by all the big players and instead recognises the importance of the grassroots and opening up world-class exhibitions and performances to new regional audiences.

The report also added that the committee was “concerned” that cultural education is seen as “of lesser importance” to the curriculum and feeds “negative perceptions of careers in creative industries”.

Dan Jarvis, the Barnsley MP and former South Yorkshire Mayor told The Yorkshire Post: “Yorkshire’s rich culture has so much to offer. Culture should be integral to the levelling up agenda, and the government should accept the Committee’s recommendations.”

A DCMS spokesperson said: "The Government is committed to ensuring that communities right across the country can experience the life-enhancing benefits that investment in arts and culture can bring."That is why we have tasked Arts Council England with prioritising funding towards more than 100 areas which have seen historically low levels of investment in arts and culture. We look forward to the positive impact that this will have and ACE will announce their decisions later this week when it unveils its new collection of National Portfolio Organisations which will receive Government funding."