Hot on the tail of last week’s NCA arts funding debate at Kings Place, the NCA Arts Hustings was held at Tate Britain this week, during which arts and culture portfolio holders Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MBE MP, Ed Vaizey MP, and Don Foster MP were grilled by members of the sector on their parties’ arts policies. Chaired again by NCA Chairman Joan Bakewell, the event was both informative and entertaining, shedding light on numerous issues that the sector faces.

Outlining her party’s position, Margaret Hodge (Lab) spoke first, highlighting the current Government’s achievements for the arts and arguing for the ring fencing of current spending on the arts (as the Dutch have done) and for the expansion of free access to culture through digital means. Ed Vaizey (Con) highlighted that anyone can say that they are arguing to retain arts funding and cautioned the room that this had not been promised by the Chancellor or the Labour Government. He could not promise that the arts would be immune from cuts under the Tories but that neither would they be singled out for cuts. He argued that Conservative plans to restore the Lottery to its four original pillars would provide significantly more funding for the arts. Finally, Don Foster spoke for the Liberal Democrats, claiming he was the only panellist who could promise that his leader would make no cuts to the arts. He suggested that the other two speakers were sorely mistaken if they truly believed that cutting funds from the 7p in every £100 of government funding given to the arts would make a significant difference to the economy.

These speeches were followed by a number of questions from the audience, addressing youth theatre and the need for a joined up youth arts strategy, arts education, local authority funding, the event of a hung parliament, the wages of arts practitioners and the growth of arts administrators. The questions generated debate amongst the politicians who, although staunchly defending their party positions and identifying differences in detail, seemed in agreement on a number of issues (the value of the arts, participation, free museum access, for example).

A recording and transcript of the debate will be available on the NCA website in due course for those who were unable to attend the event.