Arts and culture delivers a significant return on relatively small levels of government spending and directly leads to at least £856m of spending by tourists in the UK, according to a new report seeking to analyse the value of the arts to the modern economy.
Analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR)shows that the arts budget accounts for less than 0.1% of public spending, yet it makes up 0.4% of the nation's GDP.
The report is published amid fears that the arts will take another big hit when George Osborne announces his spending review in June.
Maria Miller, the culture secretary, recently called for the economic case to be made for the arts, "to hammer home the value of culture to our economy". She added: "In an age of austerity, when times are tough and money is tight, our focus must be on culture's economic impact."
The report, commissioned in November, helps to do that in unprecedented detail, showing that spending on the arts is far from a drain on public resources.
Alan Davey, chief executive of Arts Council England, which commissioned the research with the National Museum Directors' Council, said he was gratified that the report quantified "what we have long understood – that culture plays a vital part in attracting tourism to the tune of £856m a year; that arts centres and activities transform our towns and cities and drive regeneration, making the choice to maintain investment in culture a forward thinking one for local authorities; and that the arts support the creative industries and improve their productivity."
Source: The Guardian
