Arts education faces ‘structural funding crisis’, report finds

A major new report has painted a bleak picture of arts funding across the UK, as well as ‘catastrophic declines’ in participation and enrolment in the arts in state schools.

Figures set out in The State of the Arts, published by the Campaign for the Arts and The University of Warwick, reveal that the UK has one of the lowest levels of government spending on arts and culture among European countries, having slashed its total culture budget by 6% since 2010. Meanwhile, Germany increased its budget by 22%, France by 25% and Finland by 70%.

Researchers analysed official statistics available from the period 2010 to 2023 in order to provide a national snapshot of the ‘health’ of the arts, looking at funding, provision, engagement, education and employment. The results of the landmark survey will be announced in the House of Lords to arts leaders and politicians. ‘It serves as a stark warning and a call to action for policymakers, stakeholders and the public’, say its authors, who include Jack Gamble, director of the Campaign for the Arts and Dr Heidi Ashton, lead researcher at The University of Warwick.

One of the most worrying findings is what’s happened to music in schools. In English state schools, engagement with music has fallen by 26%. Entries for GCSE Music have declined by 41% from 2010 to 2023, while A Level entries are down 46%. The crisis also extends to higher education, which is grappling, among other factors, with the impact of arts subjects being segregated from other ‘strategically important’ subjects, and a 50% cut in ‘high-cost subject’ funding. Meanwhile, the report says earnings for those working in cultural education are below the poverty line.