Athena
Cultural Crusader
FOR all the intensity of the political campaigning brought about by last week’s General Election announcement, Athena would be amazed if the Arts elicit any meaningful comment in the run-up to polling day. Like the blaring music that accompanied the Prime Minister’s announcement outside No 10 Downing Street, it will at best be background noise to the mainstream debates over the more immediate and pressing problems facing the nation. The brutal truth is that—for better or worse— there are no votes to be had in the Arts. We can already be confident, therefore, that, whoever gets into power, there will be no pledges of extra money or support for the cultural sector from any of the politicians aspiring to government.
The issue of money is important—even fundamental—to the future of the nation’s cultural life and particularly at this moment in time, when so many institutions are struggling for financial survival. Even so, it’s not the only thing that a government with a fresh mandate can usefully supply. Equally important, Athena would argue, is a degree of stability. With eight Secretaries of State since 2017, what is now the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has been in a state of flux for far too long. Everyone would be well served if a new government could simply appoint to this office someone who could focus on it for more than a few months and properly master their brief.
Even if that putative Secretary of State can’t secure more public money for the cultural sector, it should be within their power to address an underlying problem that presently
