Art Council Poses Threat to Independent Publishers by Cutting Funding

The Arts Council made a recent decision to cut funding to some arts programs, independent publishers included. Some publishers such as Comma Press in Manchester were lucky enough to continue receiving funding, whereas others were not so lucky. Without this support independent publishers are going to suffer greatly.

In an article entitled ‘Why should we fund the Arts?’ found in The Guardian Newspaper, David Edgar stated that, “Despite the culture minister Ed Vaizey's insistence that the 30% cut in the Arts Council's budget is a temporary expedient, many of his Conservative colleagues consider any public funding of the arts a form of grand larceny.” (5 Jan 2012) This suggests that a conservative government does not want to fund the Arts at all. This decision is stifling culture, voice and the right to express dissent, “As David Lan puts it, dissent is necessary to democracy, and democratic governments should have an interest in preserving sites in which that dissent can be expressed.” (Edgar, 2012)

In 1946 when the Arts Council was founded its aim was to encourage the dissemination of culture through the Arts; “…art's purpose: to increase people's capacity for life (helping them to "understand, interpret and adapt to the world around them"), to enrich their experience (bringing "colour, beauty, passion and intensity to lives") and to provide a safe site in which they could build their skills, confidence and self-esteem. Other forms of endeavour do some of these things. Only art does all three.” (Edgar, 2012) Considering this in relation to publishing, independent publishers are striving to provide all of these to the public, which they cannot continue to do without funding.

An argument that opposes this idea that independent publishers will suffer is that without funding the Arts will actually thrive as they are being challenged and the need to fight to survive forces them to perform better.

Edgar, David, (2012) “Why should we fund the Arts?” theguardian, [online] 5 January. Available at: <http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jan/05/david-edgar-why-fund-the-arts> [Accessed 18 January 2012]