18 May 2006
Speech to the Child Poverty Action Group by the Minister for Culture, David Lammy
'An Aspirational Culture'
1. I've got quite a lot to say because this is a very important subject and one that I'm very fond of indeed.
2. Before 1997 organisations like yours led the fight on child poverty and after 1997 it was right that these organisations push on.
3. We've obviously seen historic reductions in child poverty that have been the culmination of that campaign. 800,000 fewer children are now growing up in poverty as a result.
4. As the MP for the most ethnically diverse constituency anywhere in the European Union and as the Minister for Culture for the last twelve months, I have had the privilege of meeting many people from an incredible range of backgrounds.
5. Those with the world at their feet and – sometimes - those with nowhere left to turn.
6. But, what hits home every time is the power of culture to raise aspirations. Helping people to look beyond their immediate surroundings and raise their gaze toward a brighter horizon.
7. Not ignoring their circumstances, but succeeding despite them.
8. Nye Bevan talked about the corrosive influence of what he termed the 'poverty of imagination'. But I've seen the transformational role that culture plays in tackling that poverty.
9. The shy child who has been overlooked by many of the adults around them, but who finds their confidence in music. The child who lives in a tiny flat in a deprived neighbourhood, who can't find anywhere to study, but who now uses the local library as a safe place to do their homework. Or the young refugee child of a refugee family who is started on the road to finding out about themselves because of the work of a local museum. Or the young person who finds successful role models outside their own working-class neighbourhood.
10. And indeed, I know how that feels.
11. I've said this before – I would not be here as a Government Minister without my cathedral scholarship.
12. Now - as Minister for Culture - I want to make the case for how culture can challenge the poverty of aspiration at every turn. Too often in the recent past culture has been an optional extra, something to be supported after everything else has received their share. Too often it has been seen as a privilege for the elite, or as something that somehow wasn't sufficiently bread and butter. Whatever the excuse, whatever the reason, the result was to exclude the very people who stood to gain the most.
13. And culture can not only raise aspirations - it can help build identity in communities. We're living in a world in which identity is becoming increasingly fluid, something we can choose, shape or discard. We go on six times more foreign holidays than we did in 1971. We travel seven miles further each week to visit friends than we did in the 1980s.
14. But the power to pick and choose identities requires spending power and affluence. We need to ask ourselves, in a society of fluid identities, are some people being left behind? Are some communities' identities being shaped not by those who are in them, but by terms like "spatial deprivation", "social exclusion", and "education action zone"?
15. Sometimes, in an effort to do good and to target resources on those who need them the most, government risks imposing a single-dimensioned understanding of identity on deprived communities. There is a danger that living in these areas becomes associated only with poverty, and the positive elements of life in these areas – like thriving diversity – are overlooked.
16. And, this is where culture has such a key role to play. Art and culture can help communities to express themselves, to build their own shared identity, to communicate that identity to the rest of society. And building identity can empower communities, making people proud of where they live.
17. It is time to move on then from culture as an optional extra. To break that false impression. To realise the potential of culture to help in the biggest challenges we face – in civil renewal, in the deepest questions of race and faith, in how we meet the challenges posed by the rise of China and India.
18. I want us to talk about the role of culture in people's lives in just the same way as we do about health or education – where no one questions the value of public investment.
19. And that means moving from a world in which we seek to guarantee access to culture to one where there is deep and lasting participation in the incredible cultural life of our nation. And where there is an ongoing, proper conversation between those providing the opportunities and those making the most of them.
20. That means an end to the sterile access versus excellence debate. Progressive politicians have always been concerned to make opportunity available to all. Artists and performers have always striven to ensure that their achievements were world-class. The task is to recognise that these aren't opposites.
21. And this isn't new. The belief that everyone should benefit from the best of the cultural life of the nation regardless of background was the animating force behind the creation of bodies such as the Arts Council. But circumstances have meant that they haven't always been able to fulfill this role. The hard times have meant that they've taken the role of the defender of the arts or a lobby group for an occasionally unpopular field. Healthier times have seen them develop a narrative around social inclusion. But there is more that we need to do.
22. I believe that we need to re-discover the energy, the connection with what people value, with their fervent hopes and the fierce ambition that so characterised public arts policy in 1945.
23. Think back in time for a moment. Nearly half a million people in this country had lost their lives. Families were torn apart. Many hundreds of thousands of others displaced or homeless. Millions of ex-service men looking to re-start their lives. Industry ravaged, the heart of our great cities devastated. Rationing still making everyday life a struggle.
24. Amidst all of those difficulties it would have been an obvious decision – some would have said the right decision - to say that arts and culture was at the bottom of the spending priorities.
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25. But that wasn't what happened. Despite all the devastation, there was a clear recognition that ordinary people were demanding something different in the post-war period. Yes – the new National Health Service, yes – better schools and housing. But not just those direct ways of tackling poverty. A better life wasn't limited to material support or possessions alone. Having survived the war people wanted to be able to live their lives to the full – and that meant investment in culture.
26. It meant investing in and nurturing aspiration.
27. It had to be done quickly and it had to be enabled by Government. But that didn't mean that Government ministers or officials became commissars of culture. I think that John Maynard Keynes summed this up brilliantly when he said in 1946 'The task of an official body in the arts is not to teach or to censure, but to give courage, confidence and opportunity'. That should be as true now as it was then.
28. Investing in the Arts Council, in the Festival of Britain, or in our public libraries were all – at the time - risky decisions. But they were aspirational, they were absolutely in tune with the public's values, and they were about giving people a stake in their culture and heritage in the best possible way.
29. It wasn't about giving the masses bread and circuses. It was about giving people what they deserved and what they wanted - the opportunity to make the most of their talents.
30. That compass has helped to steer many of our great artists in the intervening years, dedicating their lives to making excellent culture a fundamental part of people's lives – particularly children and young people. I know that many of you here this evening will have personal examples of those inspirational figures in your own minds.
31. But when we came to power in 1997 we found that much of the cultural infrastructure had been fundamentally neglected. Almost imperceptibly, step-by-step, the democratic vision for culture had been whittled away.
32. The once vibrant tapestry of British cultural life had become frayed, faded and torn. Libraries lacked books let alone broadband. Some of our national museums had steep entrance charges.
33. For far too many of the poorest and most disadvantaged families, culture was back to being the optional extra, the thing that the better-off families did. People were back to saying 'not for the likes of us'.
34. So our first priority was to get the cultural sector back on an even keel, to make sure that access to culture was universal. I am proud that one of the major steps that we took was to make sure that the national museums and galleries were once again made free to all, just as they were always intended to be. The best of Britain and the best of the world, free to everyone.
35. So by December 2005, the fourth full year since universal access, there was a 66 per cent increase in visits to our national museums and galleries – an extra 5 million visits. And before someone says it - this isn't about wealthy tourists in London getting in for free: visits to our national museums outside London were also up – by an even greater figure of 70 per cent. The fantastic museums in Liverpool recorded figures up nearly 130 per cent.
36. And school visits, which had dried-up in many cases, were back on. And nothing sums up the success of the work that we have been doing more than when I see the queues of children waiting to get into our museums and galleries. That's what I call a real investment in the future.
37. And we have invested heavily in Arts Council England. They now receive £412 million every year – up by 70 per cent in real terms since 1997. The kind of scale of investment that puts it on a footing with our record rises in education and health.
38. And we have also invested directly in young people and their aspirations. The Creative Partnerships programme – in which we're investing over £150m - does exactly what so many people in the sector have been calling for. Bringing young people and their teachers into contact with professional artists and others – working together, making the most of their talents, doing it over a sustained period giving over 280,000 young people the chance to take part in something of the highest quality and doing it often in the poorest wards of all.
39. Not everyone will become a professional ballet dancer, a painter or an actor. But they will get to realize their potential – to show that they can succeed.
40. What's more English Heritage now provide free entry for children to their 400 sites and almost 500,000 young people enjoy free educational visits every year.
41. And we've introduced new standards for libraries – setting the benchmark for what everyone can expect from their local library. Visits are up, as are loans of children's books as well. Opening hours are longer and more new books are being bought.
42. But this isn't all about central Government. We've put the funding in place but I want to recognise the role that many people like you have played in regenerating our great cultural infrastructure and in bringing pressure to bear on the inequality of cultural opportunity.
43. Fuelled by the Lottery and by local determination and creativity, the pace and depth of change in many of our great metropolitan cities is now a match for any of the great periods of civic renewal in our countries past, such as the great building programmes of 19th century.
44. Some people call it the Bilbao effect, but it makes more sense if we see it as the Salford or the Gateshead effect.
45. Places such as the Sage, Rich Mix, the Unicorn Theatre have been successful ways of showing the highest public faith in a city or a community. It says directly to people 'you deserve the best, you deserve an equal opportunity to enjoy the tools of your imagination'.
46. That they can come together in your city, for your children. Right here and right now.
47. And, I have no doubt that our faith in the role of the arts and culture to change whole communities and individual lives is bearing fruit and is having profound social and economic effects.
48. New jobs and new opportunities. Better skills and the motivation to use them.
49. But we need to face one issue square on. We can't, nor should we, justify investment in culture only on the basis of economic or social outcomes.
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50. We must recognise what Tessa Jowell has called the intrinsic value of culture. That intangible but vitally important role that it has in shaping our lives, in making us who we are, in providing fun, in helping us to live our lives to the full. We don't teach our children to read just so they'll get a job – we do it but because it's right, because we are a better society where people value each other.
51. This is where that post-war mission that I talked about earlier - that drive to put culture at the heart of people's lives - comes back into play. Where once we said access, we now look for ongoing engagement. Where once we were satisfied if a child got to go to the theatre, now we look to young people working with professional actors, learning and taking inspiration from the best in the world. Where once we said that a visit to a museum or a historic site was an occasional treat, now we say that it's essential to ensure that we can understand and respond to the world we live in.
52. Taken together, that's a powerful argument for culture's role in helping to break the cycles of poverty and deprivation.
53. So we have the investment right, we have the structures in place, we have much of the evidence to hand. Now is the time for all those in charge of the cultural levers to take the historic opportunity that presents itself. To make meaningful participation in the cultural life of the country a reality for all.
54. This isn't a hope. It's a necessity. When the Chancellor spoke about identity earlier this year at the Fabian Society Conference he said that when he thought about the importance of making the most of opportunity he thought about all the plays that hadn't been written, the music that hadn't been composed. Because young people had not always had the chance to make the most of their talents. And how much poorer the country was because of that.
55. As I said when I spoke at a Demos event earlier in the year, our national art bodies now need to re-discover their connections with local communities, they need to involve people in the funding decisions and in shaping their priorities. Some people have talked about a 'crisis of legitimacy' in some of our cultural organizations. I don't think that is too strong. It was never productive for parts of the sector simply to demand 'let us get on with it', it is no longer acceptable.
56. We know that people have a real hunger to get involved in culture. Just as we know our sectors, more than ever before, are producing high quality, creative work to meet that hunger. The task is to join that public hunger with professional creativity.
57. Now is the time for those who control the levers to get closer to the public, not to keep a distance. That doesn't mean a slavish desire to please, and it certainly doesn't mean dumbing down. But nor does it mean a studied indifference to what people think or what they value.
58. So there is a need to communicate with people that doesn't suppose that they are hard to reach, that finds people where they are, not where you want them to be. That makes a better connection between how people currently express their creative interests – such as going to the cinema, in making music, in dancing – and leading people on a wider and deeper form of engagement.
59. That's not a new approach – it's just the way that an individual artist works when they receive a commission – a dialogue between the artist and the public, each respecting and informing the others views. It's the approach that I think Nye Bevan, Jennie Lee and those post-war pioneers would expect.
60. At the heart of this is how we can best create a cultural offer for all young people. How we can learn the lessons from flagship programmes like Creative Partnerships.
61. And, to get there will mean a real shift in the way that we think about the sector. It will mean looking beyond the obvious cultural providers. Working with individuals and groups who haven't always been seen as part of the cultural mainstream – that's informal local groups, music collectives, faith groups, virtual providers on the internet, such as MySpace.com
62. And we'll need to harness the energy and enthusiasm of those who will have key roles – such as local authorities and extended schools. We are already working closely of course with the Department for Education to ensure that the new national standards that will be part of the Youth Green Paper support this approach.
63. That's an ambitious challenge, but it's an exciting one too. And it's just the approach that's already working successfully in the sports sector.
64. The cultural sector is full of creativity, and there is a growing confidence about its place in raising aspirations. Now is the time to use that confidence to really connect with people – not ignoring that personal or intrinsic value, and not forgetting the real social and economic benefits.
65. But the critical challenge – and the responsibility – for all of those who lead in the sector is to make sure that this creativity is focused on creating the kinds of opportunities for participation that people themselves are demanding. Not dumbing down, but simply responding to what the public values.
66. Across the cultural sector people are putting this into practice – putting what the public value at the centre of what they do. So the Heritage Lottery Fund are increasingly using Citizens' Juries to help inform their spending priorities. The BBC are moving closer to their audience, involving them in initiatives such as The Big Read, Restoration, and Who do you think you are? Those methods aren't immediately replicable in the arts, but they show the kinds of ways in which that public participation, that stress on the quality of the interaction and the importance of public legitimacy can be brought to life.
67. In so many ways – in tackling poverty, in raising aspirations, in helping with the deepest questions of faith and race, of building respect and understanding – this sector has the answers.
68. Winston Churchill understood this when during the Second World War he resisted calls for arts spending cuts with the words "God no. What the hell have we been fighting for."
69. What he knew was that the cultural vitality of the nation wasn't on the margins of reconstruction but essential for personal and national renewal.
70. That remains as true today as it was then. I too want to make meaningful participation in the cultural life of the country a reality for the benefit of all. Together we can realise that vision.
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