Levelling up shouldn't mean levelling down

I get levelling up, I do. My personal political leanings are all about the redistribution of wealth. For far too long, too few people have held the purse strings at the expense of those who work hard to put money in the purse. But the approach to arts funding in this country, and across other sectors, seems to be about levelling down in order to level up. The recent RMT strike is a good example as the media fell over itself to compare train worker salaries to that of nurses. The point is not to drag wages down to the lowest level; it’s about investing in the underpaid nurses to bring them up.

In the next round of Arts Council England 3-year funding, £24 million is being cut from London organisations yearly and redistributed across other parts of England. £8 million of this will be ringfenced to enable London-based organisations to move to other regions. It probably sounds good on paper, and I imagine the government is waving its left-over Jubilee flags at the prospect of the idea.

But here’s the problem. Someone’s gain will be someone else’s loss. It’s an investment in regional organisations at the expense of those based in London. It pits cultural organisations, who already do great work on a shoestring, against each other. London is being punished for the decades’ long underinvestment in regional arts and cuts in local funding. It’s not a solution; it’s a recipe for resentment.

The policy is about postcode; it’s about where your organisation is registered. It doesn’t seemingly consider the fact that many London-based organisation take their work out into the regions; and vice versa. Ardent could operate out of a tent on the cliffs of Dover and still produce all our work in London if we wanted to.

I’m not arguing against investment out of London. It’s much needed. But putting myself in the shoes of those who are based in the regions, I wouldn’t want a London company, with no knowledge or connection to the local area and its communities, being paid to pitch its tent next to ours for the sake of being funded.

I don’t blame the Arts Council; they have a very difficult job on their hands. This is a top-down decision from the DCMS. “Levelling up” is the new “Take back control.” It’s a phrase that grabs newspaper headlines without much substance or nuance with regard the cause or the solution.

The problem isn’t that London is over-funded. It’s a world class cultural city that provides high employment opportunities and contributes more in tax to the government purse than any other region. The problem is that other areas have been ignored. London needs protecting and the regions need more investment. Pouring water from a jug into ten glasses doesn’t mean there’s more water; you’re just spreading it thinnly and emptying the jug.

There seems to be a money tree when it suits, but not when it matters. Culture and the arts are woven into the very fabric of our everyday lives. I challenge anyone to point out anything made by humans that hasn’t had some creative input. It needs valuing, and nurturing, wherever we pitch our tents.