Thoughts for the day...

What does a Tory majority mean for the arts?

https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2015/tory-majority-mean-arts/

by Georgia Snow - May 8, 2015

The continuation of theatre tax relief and a frozen BBC licence fee are among the pledges made by the Conservative party, which has won a majority in the House of Commons after the general election.

Tax reliefs for the creative industries, including theatre, were introduced by chancellor George Osborne in 2014 and look set to continue under a Conservative government, with the party’s manifesto pledging to “expand them where possible”.

The Conservative manifesto also pledged to freeze the BBC licence fee at £145.50. By freezing the fee for members of the public, BBC finances are likely to come under scrutiny ahead of the BBC’s royal charter renewal, which must take place before the end of 2016.

The previous coalition government came under fire for severe cuts to the arts after its election in 2010. However, speaking to The Stage prior to the election, culture minister Ed Vaizey defended the party’s arts policy of the previous five years, maintaining that the government had not cut the arts “horrendously”.

“People have got to get out of this mentality that if the arts council budget goes up, the arts are healthy and if the arts council budget goes down, the arts are in crisis, because it is complete nonsense,” he said.

Vaizey, who has previously championed the role of philanthropy in creating a thriving cultural sector, admitted that “no party can promise to maintain arts funding”, but said that a Conservative government would commit “to new and imaginative ways of supporting the arts”.

When asked by The Stage abut the role of Arts Council England, Vaizey suggested that a strong relationship between government and ACE’s new chief executive Darren Henley would be crucial to the strength of the body.

Vaizey did not, however, commit to the continuation of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but said: “DCMS is now a much smaller department but it is not going to disappear.”