The EU contribution to the Arts

According to the Leave campaign, it is to the tune of £350m a week that the patriarchal dictators in the EU extort our poor impoverished island. As the great cultural icons Boris and Nigel might like to believe, if it were not for the bloodsucking greed of the EU, each and every British family up and down the country would be wading in the newfound riches of our great free trade state. Of course the numbers are wrong, but that would make for a less punchy tagline. Including Thatcher’s renegotiation of the UK’s EU contribution in 1984, the British rebate drops the actual sum to around £250m. But even still, the whole idea of sending away billions to the EU misses the point – the majority of that sum is sent back in all the different shapes and sizes of EU spending in the UK. Disgraceful I know, not only does the EU flood the UK with unwanted migrants, they also have the cheek to think that they know best when it comes to spending in the Britain. Maybe so, maybe not, whatever the truth, anyone claiming that the issue isn’t disastrously complicated is probably lying. However, in one area the EU is surely nothing but a force for good – amongst the many other EU spending receipts, there is one stack devoted to supporting UK arts and culture.

While the Arts Council remains officially neutral, their statistics show that over the 2014-2015 spending period, 230 UK cultural and creative organisations benefitted from €40 million in Creative Europe funding – the UK being the second biggest beneficiary after Germany. From projects on the artistic impact of ceramics to the world renowned Hay Festival, EU funding for the arts is diverse and differentiating. On a wider stage, many recent highlights in British cinema have come with the assistance of EU funding including the likes of The King’s Speech, Slumdog Millionaire and this year’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake. While many might moan at thousands being spent on niche art projects, the preservation and advancement of culture will always come in forms that are not to everyone’s taste. Equally, while some might argue that this degree of arts funding could be matched if we left the EU, the past six years of reduced government spending on culture suggests that this is unlikely. But the EU’s contribution to UK arts is more than just the Creative Europe funding. A number of cultural institutions have benefited from the work of the European Regional Development Fund and programmes including Erasmus and Interreg make substantial investments in British creative institutions.

Brexit has been described as a “huge creative step backwards” and “artistic isolation”

To satisfy those most interested in the economic argument, it is worth remembering that the EU’s position as the UK’s largest trading partner also applies to the creative industries. For every £1 invested in the creative industries, an additional £2.01 is generated in the wider economy. With the arts contributing a total of £7.7 billion to the UK economy in 2011, the sector is thriving despite recent cuts. As is always the case, some groups have complained about EU regulation on the export of cultural goods. However, the fact that Europe’s cultural heritage cannot be sold by Christies to the Middle East and Asia is probably a good thing.

One clear example of the EU’s benefit is through initiatives such as the European Capital of Culture. Although the UK has not been host since 2008 when Liverpool was awarded the title, this yearly event has seen major benefits for each city both economically and artistically. With reports showing a £750 million boost to Liverpool’s economy and a 10% rise in visitation numbers at museums and galleries, the economic benefits of the UK seem clear. Unfortunately, with the UK being only one small part of the wider EU community, we need to wait until 2023 for the European Capital of Culture to return to the UK where Leeds and Dundee have been cited as hopefuls, but in the meantime, it is worth remembering that the EU project is as much about cultural unity as it is about economic prosperity.

Increasingly, the work of artists is becoming less bound by the traditional geographic borders and international collaboration has become the norm. From the point of view of the artists themselves the prospect of Brexit has been described as a “huge creative step backwards” and “artistic isolation.” Only last week, 282 of the leading creatives in the UK signed an open letter urging support for remaining in the EU. With the likes of Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, actors Bill Nighy, Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly, and industry executives from leading production companies and publishers, creative support for the EU is overwhelming.

While the financial benefit for creatives at the top is clear, many smaller, less influential artists show equally strong support for the EU. With members of the Creative Industries Federation being recently polled, a huge 96% responded as being in favour of remaining in the EU. With over 2.6 million people employed in the creative economy, it would be naïve to think that leaving the EU would not harm our creative output. Of course, as the Mail Online said so eloquently, the creative industries are filled with “desperate left-wing luvvies,” so it is no wonder that there is strong support for the EU, but that should not negate the powerful voice of this influential community.

In the end, I anticipate that the arts will be a quiet bystander in the final arguments for staying or leaving the EU. With much of the Leave campaign’s argument focused around anti-immigration bigotry, you could easily vote for staying in the EU on purely moral reasons without worrying about the arts. However, in this time of European division and the rise of radical anti-EU parties on the continent, maybe it is the role of art to remind everyone of the importance of this cultural union. The EU is far from perfect, and there are many legitimate reasons one might want to leave, but doing so without long term harm across different sectors and especially in the arts is not going to happen.

ICU is holding an EU debate on the 2nd of June in Skempton 164

This article has been amended to reflect the fact that Creative Europe have sponsored 230 organisations to the tune of €40 million. We initially reported that they had funded 175 organisations with €39 million.