My Twitter feed this morning was very cross, very cross indeed. My colleague Will Gompertz, arts editor of the BBC, had been on the Today programme talking about arts subsidy. Despite Arts Council England's best efforts since its foundation after the war, he argued, funding for the arts had been "it would appear, to no great effect". Under 8% of the population, he said, go to the ballet, opera, or classical music concerts, according to government figures. Was arts subsidy, pondered the report, really just supporting the tastes of the upper and middle classes? Have institutions such as the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera succeeded in attracting any but the privileged few?
I think – with all respect and a friendly tip of the hat, as ever, to Will – that the picture presented here was too bleak; and incomplete. Hence the irritation of my Twitter pals. The implication (though perhaps not the intention) of the piece was to suggest that classical music, opera and ballet "stood in for" the whole of the arts. That is, of course, a partial picture. It misses out whole swathes of cultural activity. Theatre, galleries, museums. Street theatre, carnival, festivals... whole chunks of stuff supported by the public purse. It didn't mention the incredible work done in the community by arts organisations; or by companies like Clean Break and Streetwise Opera that work with a very particular social purpose in view.
The report was perhaps too a rather incomplete picture of the work of the Royal Opera House. I would not for a moment suggest that its audience on an average night presents an accurate picture of British society, or that it is not a forbidding place in many ways, or there is not work to do: but you don't have to pay £115 to see the ballet; my two-second, random click around on the website threw up £4 tickets for a terrific-sounding evening at the ballet in February (you do have to snap 'em up in advance) – a sum for which you'd struggle to find London cinema tickets. The ROH puts on family performances (tickets £5-£20). Chance to Dance is a scheme that works with schools in Lambeth, Southwark and Thurrock to encourage kids – not the kids of the privileged – to access ballet and enjoy dancing themselves. But enough about the Royal Opera House. The ROH is not the arts in England. It's one arts organisation in England and it shouldn't dominate discussions about funding (I know, I'm doing it...).
"Great art for everyone" – a glib motto for Arts Council England, perhaps. But I'm not sure anyone need be apologetic about the aspiration. Through our schools, through the extraordinary outreach work done by arts organisations, through the committed work of artists and teachers, I don't see why every person (and importantly every child) shouldn't encounter great art. God knows enough people are doing their best to make it happen. And actually, I think it's working.
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