| Arts Council England tried to make its new guidance seem innocuous, stating that it was merely a refresh of their framework on managing reputational risks. That is not how it was taken by those who work in the arts and culture sector. “It is baffling to think that senior people at an arts organisation would think this was something that was ever going to fly – it was never going to be accepted,” Lanre says. Why did ACE take such a hardline stance? Artists and critics alike have been wondering what led ACE to take such a hardline stance. For now, there is no clear answer. But the controversy around the guidance is the latest episode in a longer saga about the increasing politicisation of ACE in recent years. ACE is supposed to be one of 295 “arms-length bodies” – organisations that are publicly funded but independent from the government interference. However, in recent years, the government has tested the arms-length policy: in 2021, for instance, the culture secretary of the time, Oliver Dowden, wrote a letter stating that public bodies should align with the government on its stance on issues “of contested heritage”, referring specifically to the removal of statues and other memorials by protesters. And recently the government objected to a £15,000 grant under the Music Export Growth Scheme going to the Belfast rap trio Kneecap – a spokesperson for the UK business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, said the government did not want to hand taxpayers’ money “to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself”. The group is taking the government to court. The row with Kneecap has nothing to do with ACE, but it is emblematic of the increasingly interventionist stance the government is taking with publicly funded parts of the arts sector. The pressure from Westminster has been compounded by the news that the government will be conducting a full-scale review of ACE that will determine whether it should continue to operate in its current form. Diminished trust Artists viewed the guidelines as a “massive overreach”, Lanre says, especially given the heightened political context. Some are seeing it as pre-emptive damage control, as other organisations pull events on controversial topics. Earlier this month Lanre reported on the Barbican Centre in London cancelling a talk with the writer Pankaj Mishra about Gaza. “It was under the auspices of the London Review of Books, which is part of the cultural establishment. But it was still pulled,” he says. The Barbican said the LRB advertised the event too soon, meaning it did not have time to “do the careful preparation needed for this sensitive content” but Mishra said the decision was part of a “pervasive sense of fear and panic” that is closing down debate on the issue within cultural spaces. ACE’s guidance was viewed by some to be exacerbating the issue and passing judgment on what kind of political statements would cause problems. “It could have a long-term impact on whether artists feel they can trust the organisation. I think that’s where the damage might be done,” he adds. The wider picture Since 2010, funding for the arts, like every other publicly funded sector, has dramatically declined. During the years of the coalition government, the overall budget for the DCMS was reduced by a quarter; ACE’s budget has shrunk by about 30% in the last 13 years. And what this looks like is a less vibrant and dynamic culture sector in parts of the country that really need it. With money from local councils dwindling too, the various planks of funding for the arts have slowly dried up, making Arts Council funding even more important. The impact on the most deprived communities has already been noted: a 2022 study found that the proportion of working-class actors, musicians and writers shrunk by half since the 1970s. “Once you remove the grassroots, organic ways that people get access to the arts, fewer people from working-class backgrounds will enter the field,” Lanre adds. And it’s not just about the cash: the role of culture secretary has been diminished. “It’s become a place where politicians create headlines over culture war issues and then wander off somewhere else,” Lanre says. If you think we have had too many prime ministers, then you should look at the DCMS, where there have been 12 culture secretaries since the Conservatives came to power. None have quite managed to beat Liz Truss’s record six weeks in power, but the revolving door has meant there has been no coherent policy for over a decade. “A lot of it stems from this ideological view of what the arts are for,” Lanre says. “At one point they were seen as an important and necessary part of our lives – a nourishment that enriches society.” That no longer seems to be the case. | 