The State of the Arts Across the UK: A Comparative Snapshot

We’re always on the lookout for great examples of ‘Thinking Comparatively’ and in this edition of The Comparative Angle we bring you the State of the Arts report by Campaign for the Arts.

The report ‘lays bare the challenges the UK now faces to maintain and enhance’ the arts, culture and heritage sector. As a devolved area, this carries implications for the nations individually as well as jointly.

Significant challenges face the sector and are not unique to one nation. For example, ‘dramatic’ falls in funding have been seen across the board, with core grant-in-aid funding of the Arts Councils per person having decreased by 18% in England, 22% in Scotland, 25% in Wales and 66% in Northern Ireland since 2009/10 (p34/35).

The report even tackles the difficulties of data comparability across the nations when using differing datasets and measurements, as well as identifying limitations in data availability in some contexts.

For example, arts engagement across the nations is monitored through separate surveys and indicators in each nation. Arts or cultural engagement in the last 12 months was at 91% in England, 88% in Scotland and 80% in Northern Ireland, while in Wales, 64% of people had ‘attended’ an arts event. The report states that due to the ‘absence of harmonised statistics between the nations, we cannot say whether and to what extent actual engagement in lower’ in Wales (p70).

State of the Arts is nevertheless an example of where significant insights can be gained through looking at each nation side by side, as well as where there is further potential to examine, understand and learn from comparative analysis.