The Birmingham Post has revealed news of an exciting development in the city’s creative scene. Birmingham City University (BCU) have been awarded a £500,000 grant by Arts Council England. The money will be used to fuel ‘STEAMHouse’, a collaborative project – between BCU and Eastside Projects – ‘which aims to bring together arts and culture with science, technology, engineering and maths’ (Jones, 2016). Among other things, the money will help the project ‘bring together academics, creative entrepreneurs, politicians and researchers to provide support for 270 creative enterprises.’
BCU is one of nine recipients of funding from the Arts Council Creative Local Growth fund who dished out £3.8 million, demonstrating a commitment to the creative industries which are valued at a staggering ‘£84.1 billion each year’ in the UK economy (Knott, 2016, cited in Jones, 2016).
Questioning the power of Arts Council England
What is culture? The question is simple, the answer is not (Williams, 1981, cited in . The issue this highlights is the problem of a centralized space of decision-making enjoyed by the Council. There are power-relations at work, almost as if the leadership of the Council decides what constitutes British culture, or at least which elements of it should be encouraged and/or invested in, and then there is a trickle-down effect bound up with the allocation of funding. In terms of scale, the trickle-down moves from the few to the many and, ultimately aims to shape our experience of our own country.
Who’s culture? When the Council refers to culture, or even ‘great art and culture‘, who’s culture are they referring to? The demographics of the UK are very interesting. At least 14% of the UK population represents ethnic minorities and this could increase to up to 30% by 2050 (Sunak and Rajeswaran, 2014, cited in RT, 2014). Jackson (2002: 317), writing about the issues of multiculturalism, asks a poignant question: ‘How do liberal democracies reconcile their emphasis on equal rights for all citizens (irrespective of ethnic and social differences) with the recognition that particular groups (often cast as ‘minorities’) may have particular needs, different values and distinctive traditions?’. Is it realistic and fair to think that a centralised Council, lead by 14 members, can make decisions and allocation funding which will accommodate the varied cultural desires of a multicultural nation?
How far can you reach? One of the fascinating things, in terms of Geography, is the socio-economic knock-on effect of Arts Council England funding. Professor Julian Beer of Birmingham City University stated that ‘with the support of STEAMHouse in developing new forms of production, they (local small and medium sized creative businesses) will be able to thrive more than ever.’ So, as the Council supports STEAMHouse, it is encouraged and enabled to continue its work of supporting businesses and, therefore, supporting job creation and socio-economic prosperity.
To conclude, Arts Council England is backing Britain but who gains from and who misses out on their involvement comes down to how they back Britain?
References
Arts Council England,website, accessed by me on 26 February 2016, <http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/>
Art Council England, Arts Council England Council, accessed by me on 26 Fevruary 2016, <http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/who-we-are/how-we-are-run/national-council/members-of-the-council/>
Arts Council England (2013) GREAT ART AND CULTURE FOR EVERYONE, Arts Council England
Eastside Projects, accessed by me on 26 February 2016, <http://www.eastsideprojects.org/>
Gregory, D., Johnston, R., Pratt, G., Watts, M., & Whatmore, S. (Eds.). (2009). The dictionary of human geography. Blackwell.
Jackson, P. (2002). Geographies of diversity and difference. Geography, 316-323.
Jones (2016) £500k boost for Birmingham’s creative economy, accessed by me on 26 February 2016, <http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/creative/500k-boost-birminghams-creative-economy-10949386>
RT (2014) Up to 30% of UK population will be from ethnic minorities by 2050 – study, accessed by me on 26 February 2016, <https://www.rt.com/uk/157012-britain-ethnic-minorities/>
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