It’s culture that can bring life back to our towns and cities

2020 has been cataclysmic. Now as the year ends we welcome, with a collective sigh of relief, news of vaccines being developed and we can begin to see an end to this terrible pandemic. Covid-19 has affected life in every place in our country, from our great cities, to towns and villages.

In October this year, footfall in cities like Manchester and Birmingham was down by around 60%, according to the Centre of Cities. Part of this decline was because many people are now only commuting from their bedroom to the kitchen table. But as a result of lockdown and other constraints, retail, leisure and cultural industries, from department stores to restaurants, cinemas, music venues and theatres have been hit hard. It’s estimated that night time footfall in our cities is down by two thirds from before the pandemic, blunting our important night-time economy. Nowhere has been untouched and the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that coastal towns have been especially vulnerable.

Government stepped up to help in a host of ways, from the furlough scheme to the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund. Arts Council England has played an important role in administering this funding, which has kept many in work, and cultural businesses in existence, from grass roots music venues through to national companies. This was a significant investment - not just for the businesses themselves and the people they employ - but for the local areas they operate in. 

Cultural organisations boost local economies and also contribute to people feeling proud about where they live.

What this year has demonstrated is how the public and commercial sectors can work together to achieve results. Indeed, last year’s independent Cultural Cities Enquiry showed that when it comes to culture, local communities are served best when strong partnerships are in place between government, funders like the Arts Council, and the places themselves. Before the pandemic many cities and towns already had strong track records of using arts and culture to create thriving places to live, work, study, and visit.

Back in 2018, the Cultural Cities Enquiry’s independent chair, Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, brought together experts from culture to education and local government to look at how the cultural sector could face the future.

In 2019 they recommended the idea of towns and cities setting up Cultural Compacts to shape, direct, and promote the local cultural offer. As a result, 24 places formed Cultural Compacts, with support from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council. One of these was Nottingham where officials organised a three-day digital festival that provided work for over 100 artists and some joy to over 500,000 viewers, as well as a ‘Robin Hood Fund’ that provided tens of thousands for foodbanks and homeless organisations. In Wolverhampton, a cultural plan was developed as a contribution towards plans for broader economic revival, including how to make use of empty retail units and ‘meanwhile’ spaces.

We saw very clearly how cultural venues and creative organisations can bring life, excitement and soul to high streets and to communities. In turn, this leads to more people using and enjoying their local town centres, spending more and helping them prosper.

This autumn the Cultural Cities Enquiry board has reconvened, and last week we published a number of further recommendations that will help towns and cities get back on their feet after the pandemic.

There are manifestly huge challenges, but the prize is places in which people want to live work and enjoy life.

There is a new spirit of seeking ways in which we can work together to achieve this. But we need action. First, the Arts Council needs to build on the work of the Culture Recovery Fund by continuing to support artists and organisations to reset and to re-open. Second, local leaders and partners in health, education and business need to continue working with us to help breathe new life and purpose into high streets and city centres across the country. Third, while the government’s help through the Culture Recovery Fund over this period has been, without exaggeration, a lifeline, there will be a need to sustain recovery. The investment that has been made in Cultural Compacts needs to be protected and supported to bolster and revive towns and cities, across the land. It would be an investment in all our futures.