News update, 28th April
A news update from the Crafts Council for 28 April 2010
Election manifestos
We have reported previously on the commitments on culture in the manifestos of the three main parties (the main policy briefing for April can be found here and last week’s briefing news can be found here). There are also commitments of interest to those working in craft or the broader cultural sector in the UKIP and Green Party manifestos. While the section of the UKIP manifesto on culture focuses on promoting Britishness, there is a mention of craft in the context of education, where UKIP proposes a new “Comprehensive Test” in place of an eleven-plus which would include an assessment of vocational skills, crafts and sports, as well as academic ability. The Green Party manifesto includes a commitment to increase local arts provision, in part by encouraging touring. There are also proposals in a section on supporting small businesses that may be of interest to makers, including a proposal to amend planning laws to allow appropriate small businesses to operate in residential areas and to compel large retail developments to include spaces for small local businesses. You can read the full UKIP manifesto here
You can also read the full Green party manifesto here
Perceptions of the political parties in the cultural sector
Ahead of the election, the consultancy, Arts Quarter, has undertaken a survey looking at how people working in the cultural sector view the parties, their leaders and their policies.
Confidence in the party leaders’ commitment to the cultural sector was low: 48% of respondents felt that none of the leaders of the three main parties had demonstrated any clear commitment to issues relating to the arts, 36% identified Gordon Brown as the party leader most likely to empathise with cultural concerns, 11% Nick Clegg and less than 4% David Cameron.
Just over half of respondents to the survey (54%) felt that none of the big three parties had been sufficiently clear about their commitments to the cultural sector. 20% felt that Labour had been clear on its pledges, 13% saw clarity within the Conservative manifesto and 8% saw clarity in the Liberal Democrats’ policies.
Asked to look forward to likely changes post-election, respondents identified a need to increase income generation from private sources, and predicted cuts to public programmes and redundancies. The full results from the Arts Quarter survey can be found here.
National Campaign for the Arts
The National Campaign for the Arts website features Vote Arts 2010, the online home for arts advocacy and campaigning during the 2010 General Election. Find out more here
