Arts funding model is ‘utterly broken’, warns Edinburgh festival chief

Sadly the economy is doing badly and arts is usually first on the chop. A lot of people just don’t value culture very much particularly now so much of it is imported from abroad.

Arguably we don’t need as many artists now that culture is so mass-marketed and widespread. Cultural works these days can be produced very cheaply by AI, pumped out to tens of millions on Netflix and YouTube, and then there’s no attention span left for people to pay attention to anything else.

>“There is an ever-tightening squeeze on what is deemed by protest voices to be appropriate financial backing for the arts,” said Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Fringe, which relies on commercial partnerships with firms such as the Johnnie Walker whisky experience on Edinburgh’s Princes Street, TikTok and Baillie Gifford.

>“There is no such thing as clean money,” she said. “We need a proper, grown-up conversation — otherwise the only route is to hike prices and make arts a luxury item for the wealthy.”

Can’t have your cake and eat it.

Arts are a luxury though. In the hierarchy of public spending how can we justify it when healthcare, education and prisons are all so stretched?

The simple reality is that the supply of art and artists vastly exceeds the demand. Loads of people want to produce art, but not many people are willing or able to pay for it.