WIREDGOV

A new enquiry was launched yesterday to investigate the potential future for culture in cities across the UK.

Cities across the country are home to a huge range of cultural activity. But our cities are rapidly changing, expanding and growing more diverse, while increasing financial pressures mean that fewer resources are available to fund culture.

What will the enquiry do?

The enquiry will investigate different ways that policy makers, funders, and culture creators and providers can create an environment in which culture has the resources to flourish - and in autumn 2018 it will produce a report providing practical recommendations. The enquiry will look at several different possibilities, including:

• How culture's contribution to government priorities like integrated communities, combating loneliness, or skills and education could unlock new funding streams
• How tax incentives may be used to encourage cultural investment and philanthropy
• How cultural organisations could be supported to develop sources of commercial revenue, to become more self-sustaining
• How cities and cultural organisations can make greater use of innovative financing mechanisms - including social investment, peer-to-peer lending and other forms of repayable finance
• How we can increase non-traditional sources of giving, including at community level, through crowdfunding or local sponsorship
• Whether the planning system or incentives for developers could be used more effectively to provide spaces for culture

Who will sit on the enquiry?

The enquiry was originally developed by Arts Council England and Core Cities UK. It will be independently chaired by Virgin Money CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia, working alongside Arts Council England Chair Sir Nicholas Serota and various leaders from the cultural, education, and finance sectors.

The inaugural board meeting will take place on 18 April 2018 at the Deptford Lounge in Lewisham, an award-winning community hub with a broad range of arts programming and local services.

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England, said: “Culture is an integral part of life in cities and we need to secure the creative strengths of our great cities, by finding fresh ways of doing things. The Cultural Cities Enquiry will look at the current challenges and seek to provide answers. The pressures on our cities may be great, but the prize is cities that are rewarding places to live in.”