Funding for the arts versus sports

I agree there is a terrific imbalance here. Maybe as a society we fear creativity and where it could inevitably lead? Seeing people run faster and score more goals is not a threat to the establishment in the way creativity and the arts can be.
Better to keep poor people out of it and leave for those with a vested interest- that's my take on it.

Britain has always been anti-intellectual. Arty-farty types are derided and made fun of.

DH is an engineer and also loves opera, real serious opera as well as operetta. He has been a performer, director, producer, musical director, and audience and studied for degrees in it in his free time. Yet throughout his 40 years of working, he never let anyone at work know what he did in his free time. he would have been laughed at, it would have been suggested he was gay (homophobia). If we talk arts it is dismissed as belonging to the privileged and the sexually ambivalent.

You see it even on GN, read keepingquiet's post. I f anyone admits to a 'high' cultural interest and it will immediately be suggested that they must be privileged. have a talented sportsman in the family and it is something people congratulate on, have a talented artist or performer, and again this suggestion is that the child is a child of privilege.

Until the country, including 'privileged' government members of all parties can see that a healthy mind is needed in a healthy body and encouraging the arts is as important as encouraging sport, our talented and creative people will come second to the sportsmen, creativity will be stifled.

Happiness and enjoyment is underrated.

Ted Heath comes to mind re your first para, MOnica.

I think part of the answer must be that success and failure in sport is easily measureable - anyone can see who's won a race - whereas no two critics agree on an opera performance.

Also because sport is more easily taught in class size groups in schools than art or music.

The number participating in sports has increased and reaches far more people across the age profile, that aside what constitutes “art” is not seen by many as worthwhile entertainment.

winterwhite

Ted Heath comes to mind re your first para, MOnica.

I think part of the answer must be that success and failure in sport is easily measureable - anyone can see who's won a race - whereas no two critics agree on an opera performance.

Also because sport is more easily taught in class size groups in schools than art or music.

No, great singers are widely recognised as are really good performances. Sometimes there are disagreements and sometimes there are agreements that certain productions are dreadful.

We were at the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival at Buxton Opera House last week (it has more opera performances each year than the London Colisseum), I have just been reading some lovely reviews of the performances we saw.

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This might be helpful regarding sports funding in U.K.

Added to this he National Lottery puts in additional funds.

I think that taking the money out of arts and sport would be likely to make really good artists of all sorts and really good sportsmen more likely to percolate to the top. Too much funding can be stifling too...

There are few votes in museums and the arts so money tends to go towards sports which get a lot of press and TV coverage.

That’s true David49, but why is it so disproportionate?
The Times article cites a cost of £22 million for training 10 people specifically for the Olympic sailing event, the same sum as the annual grant to the Royal Opera which employs 2000 people and puts on 500 performances a year. Is this disparity really justified.

Yes of course I should have said opera productions rather than performances.

Grantanow

There are few votes in museums and the arts so money tends to go towards sports which get a lot of press and TV coverage.

this is so inredible when a recent report historicengland.org.uk/research/heritage-counts/heritage-and-society/social-cohesion/ said that

The relationship between the historic environment and social capital was demonstrated in a recent study by Mak et al (2023), which found that people living in places with greater historic built environment experience higher levels of personal relationships, social network support, and civic engagement.

The report said that this was as important in socially deprived areas as more affluent areas. Recently people flocked to events organised for the festival of Archaeology and in Spetemebr Open hOuse weekend will have people flooding to visit historic properties that are not usually open to visitors.

These days museums are always packed.

I could not agree more. Classical music is being seen as. more and more élitist as many state schools have all but given up teaching children about it. The same goes for our wonderful heritage of folk music. Pop music is the only music on offer for many. Meanwhile, in private schools, it is given the recognition it deserves and lots of ensembles. When I was at (state) school, all the way through the seventies until the early eighties when I took A levels, music was given the respect it deserves and we were taught about the classics and folk music. In addition, the peripatetic system was at its peak. I was lucky enough to have private piano lessons, but would never have had the opportunity to learn any other instruments were it not for the opportunities I had at school. The school choirs were very popular and the first proper instrument many of us learned was the recorder. I was in several different recorder ensembles all the way through school - it gave me my first chance of ensemble playing. When I was twelve, I started learning the violin at school from a peripatetic teacher. These lessons were free of charge. I was also able to borrow an instrument from the school for a while to see if I took to it which, of course, I did and my parents bought me my first violin as a joint birthday and Christmas present later that year. I progressed through school and youth orchestras making like-minded friends into the bargain, before going to music college. In those days, you had to have a first study instrument (piano for me) and a second study instrument (violin then viola for me). Most of my college friends had benefited from the peripatetic system in the same way as I had and there was a wide variety of instruments that people studied. If a student had not passed grade 5 piano, they had to learn it as a third study. These days, even the top music colleges only require one instrumental study. I made my career in music and, in addition, have had a great deal of pleasure and fulfilment by playing in different orchestras over the years. Most people who learned through school in this way did not, of course, go on to study music for a career, but many of them have enjoyed being part of various amateur music ensembles over the years. There are many, many people who can say that their lifelong enjoyment of music started with the humble recorder and the encouragement of school.

I agree that there is a disparity, and would love to see it addressed. My home town recently renovated its 'leisure centre', which would have been a great opportunity to include an Arts venue, exhibition space etc. A group of people really pushed for this to happen, but no. It's 90% sports, 10% leisure. Houses have now been built on the site of the old Adult Education building, so that's gone too.

We are becoming a nation of philistines. I understand the need to facilitate health and fitness and to address obesity, but walking is free and can be done anywhere, which is much less true of Arts and education.

winterwhite

That’s true David49, but why is it so disproportionate?
The Times article cites a cost of £22 million for training 10 people specifically for the Olympic sailing event, the same sum as the annual grant to the Royal Opera which employs 2000 people and puts on 500 performances a year. Is this disparity really justified.

Yes of course I should have said opera productions rather than performances.

Yes some of the sports are very elitist, but that is going to be redressed next Olympics - Breakdancing is going to be featured again!, I’m sure there will be hot competition to get in the team.

David49 Breakdancing is not going to be included in the 2028 Olympics.

New sports in LA 2028 are

Baseball/softball
Cricket (T20)
Flag Football
Lacrosse (sixes)
Squash

Doodledog we always were a country of Philistines.

I cannot understand this exclusion of classical music from schools, look how popular ClassicFM is.

Yes, it is seen as elitist, but why?

One of our GS’s is starting his music GCSE in September, and looking at the syllabus it covers a wide range of music genres including classical.

I agree M0nica but when it comes to general elections voters don't think about museums and the arts very much. It's true that museums and galleries attract many visitors and are an important offer for tourism income, ditto the Royal Opera and Ballet for richer tourists, but voters tend to put more weight on the NHS, inflation, etc. And because most national museums and galleries charge governments can avoid the issue. I'd prefer them to be free as they were when I was at school.

Schools are also encouraged to go for more science based subjects, because they are easier to mark and grade.

I can’t think of a good minister for the arts in recent years. Or a good education secretary for the last 10 years. That would help.

On a more positive note, a lot of funding for both sports and the arts comes from the National Lottery, 20% is allocated to each from total Lottery income. 20% of £1.7 billion in 2023/24.
I don’t think when saying there is insufficient funding for the arts, comparing it with sports is an appropriate comparison, because both have huge value to participants, viewers and to our health and self esteem as a nation as well as individually. I don’t think taking money from one to give to the other woukd be a good way forward.

I enjoy watching both sports and the “arts” I enjoy Art Galleries and the theatre.

I think that they are all equally important!

Cossy

I enjoy watching both sports and the “arts” I enjoy Art Galleries and the theatre.

I think that they are all equally important!

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