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| PUNCH & JUDY | Ink on Paper/ CGI | June 2011 | Adam Grose |
Since the
financial collapse of 2008[1]
and its domino effect upon the global stage we have witnessed the gradual
decline in funding for the arts and culture in many areas[2]. However, these changes have not stopped
creative people from finding new avenues of revenue, seeking and sharing
opportunities and expanding the scope of arts and culture through the Internet,
crowd-sharing and social networks[3].
Governments impose tougher budgetary cuts in
funding for organisations, education institutions and health etc...; changing
strategies with the removal of arts from the proposed Baccalaureate; enforcing
expectant grade guidelines for educational institutions for GCSE and A level
examinations and schools considered as ‘failing’ are turned into Academies[4]. Yet the idea of one standard form of
homogenised education for all is failing the diverse nature of Britons and its
inventiveness. How can an old ‘system’ from
the Enlightenment cope with changes happening in a post-industrial and
post-digital society that is on the rise?
Our British inventiveness by thinking
creatively and accessing fully funded educational projects brings people from
all ages and backgrounds together.
Sharing views, ideas and forming new bonds through the creative
industries: music, art, film, theatre and the written word. The Conservative government’s funding cuts, capping
wages and benefits by 1%; cutting services and stemming the growth of cultural
institutions which emancipate people through creative thinking, constricts
Britain’s future growth and its future entrepreneurs. In a contemporary society where, as reported
by Oxfam[5],
the richest 1% of society could solve the world’s problems four times over and
reiterated by Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary, in response to tax cuts
for the rich says ‘...the rich tend to save or shove it off to tax havens...’[6]
scuppering investment in local communities, restricting localised culture and
small business growth.
Arts and culture are investments for the
future. Every individual, regardless of individual
economic status, learns skills through arts projects. In Mali[7]
music and culture opens hearts and discourse, revealing moments and sharing visions
from others through a cultural education.
Culture endows a foundation, forming critical questioning about what and
where we are as a species, creating new trajectories and possibilities that
free us, expanding horizons away from those who wish to restrict our potential through
old ‘ways of seeing’, that have no
place in our contemporary international community today.
1 The Observer, (28th Dec 2008). ‘Three Weeks that changed the World’, [on-line] available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/28/markets-credit-crunch-banking-2008
2 The Guardian, Editor’s Picks.
[on-line] available from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/arts-funding Culture: Arts Funding. [accessed 20th Jan 2013]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/arts-funding Culture: Arts Funding. [accessed 20th Jan 2013]
3 BBC
News, Mike Wendling, (23rd August 2012). ‘Crowdfunding start-ups show how to side step
Bank Loans’, Business [on-line] available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19286163
4 Department for Education, (01st
Sept 2010 ). ‘142 schools convert to academy status weeks after Academies Act
passed’, News and press notices [on-line] available from http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a0064203/142-schools-to-convert-to-academy-status-weeks-after-academies-act-passed
5 Oxfam International. (19th
Jan 2013). ‘The cost of inequality: how wealth and income extremes hurt us all’,
Press Room [on-line] available from http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2013-01-19/annual-income-richest-100-people-enough-end-global-poverty-four-times
6 Newsnight,
Frances O’Grady. (2013). Interview. In: Newsnight, BBC2, 25th Jan.
2230 hrs. [on-line] available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01q9bct/Newsnight_25_01_2013/
7 Newsnight,
Fatoumata Diawara. (2013). Interview. In: Newsnight, BBC2, 25th Jan.
2230 hrs. [on-line] available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01q9bct/Newsnight_25_01_2013/
