Cultural Capital

Reflections on books and the arts from the New Statesman culture desk

Antony Gormley attacks the coalition's plans for arts funding

"The state has a duty to be a good patron," the sculptor tells the NS.

By Daniel Trilling Published 22 January 2011 12:12

The sculptor Antony Gormley, interviewed for the NS by Samira Shackle, speaks out against the government's cuts to arts funding:

What do you make of the coming cuts to arts funding?
Disastrous. You should definitely cut defence before you cut art. Art is the way that an individual and a nation express their vitality. Without it, we might as well not be alive.

Should the arts receive special protection?
The idea that somehow art should be cut in the same way as everything is just completely and utterly indefensible. It is as if somehow we are having to be buried as well as being told that we are poor and starving.

What's more, Gormley gives short shrift to the idea that Britain's arts can be sustained by private philanthropy:

That's wishful thinking. The American model, where national institutions and their boards are in some way influenced by the largest funders, is open to extreme abuse. I would never discourage philanthropy, but there is a huge difference between patronage and state funding. The state has a duty to be a good patron.

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Tags: arts funding

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7 comments

Thu, 2011-01-27 05:56 — Ivan Miletitch

The Tories ALWAYS look for cuts in culture budgets(same in France). They assume Culture = Leftism, so as a conservative, it makes perfect sense to cut funding. Nothing new there but I think we all kind of forgot this in 13 tory free years !

Fri, 2011-04-01 17:09 — Rob (not verified)

" You should definitely cut defence before you cut art. Art is the way that an individual and a nation express their vitality. Without it, we might as well not be alive."

And without defence you might not be. What a twat.

Sun, 2011-01-23 00:14 — Robert (not verified)

The finest in modern British conceptual art coming to an art gallery near you - locked front doors.

Thu, 2011-02-24 00:09 — Lox (not verified)

@Law, a lot of people like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin (I like the former-I think beside Bacon he's the best British artist of the post-war years....Emin I can take or leave). But their work was supported by private patronage, not by the state. You might not like the art that Saatchi paid for, but this debate can't be reduced to the level of "private funding = populist crap, public funding = profound art".
I'm not sure where Antony Gormley gets most of his commissions from, but I think that perhaps he has a vested interest in state support for the arts.
The state doesn't have a duty or necessarily, for that matter, an inclination to be a good patron. Ultimately state funding for the arts is going to be at the mercy of nepotism and cronyism at least as much as private funding.