Is there a case for spending on arts and culture?

Spending on arts, museums and libraries has gone down by 17% or £236m since 2010. Proportionally that’s lower than overall spending, which was set to be cut 26% between 2010–15. According to the Arts Council this ‘suggests that councils have tried to protect these services where they can.’

A report published last week by the New Economics Foundation called The Art of Commissioning argues the arts and cultural sector harbours ‘unrealised potential’ for public services. The report said,

Applying arts and cultural activities to services can deliver value for money, particularly by placing greater emphasis on prevention, self-management of health, support for integrated care and strengthening of communities.

Why is this potential unrealised?

Firstly it appears that arts and cultural organisations don’t always know how to bid for contracts, and commissioners don’t always know who should be tendering for them.

But this is a symptom of a systemic barrier: ‘The public sector as a whole lacks a clear understanding of the breadth and diversity of the arts and cultural sector, and of its potential to transform local services.’

• So what will enable the arts and cultural sector to deliver commissioning outcomes for the public sector?
• What exactly can the arts and cultural sector deliver?
• And how can the arts and cultural sector improve its offer?

Let’s distill a few findings from the New Economics Foundation’s report mentioned earlier.

For a period of 18 months NEF partnered with local authorities in Kent and Gloucester to shake up commissioning and open it up to the arts and cultural sector. They developed new ways of reaching and commissioning arts and cultural organisations — to meet multiple outcomes and improve the range of services in communities. The new way of working was coined ‘cultural commissioning,’ to mean ‘a set of ideas and opportunities that commissioners have taken on and woven into their local objectives and activities … to create new solutions that tackle intractable challenges.’

They used a number of different procurement approaches such as innovation grants, competitive dialogue and a Social Value Act Question. Commissioners also use personal budgets, competitive tendering, alliance contracting, framework agreements and other approaches. Not so rigid.

Among all these approaches the main finding was that ‘very narrowly defined service specifications close down the space for innovation. More and more local authorities are shifting to focus on the outcomes that matter to people using services. This shift is essential to tackle the barriers facing many organisations in engaging with public sector commissioning.’

What are the arts and culture related outcomes we’re talking about? Here are a few examples of successful projects and the outcomes they achieved.

• ‘Arts on prescription’ programmes in partnership between arts charity Airlift and the NHS, provided participants with creative activities over eight weeks. The outcome? A 37% reduction in GP visits six months afterwards and half of participants set up their own volunteer group, allowing a social support network to continue.
• Up-skilling health and care organisations to deliver creative care services, such as in Hammersmith and Fulham, led to a more collaborative way of working for staff including better problem solving, and an improved quality of life and confidence for patients.
• The English National Ballet with NHS West London CCG provided dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease. The classes had a positive impact on social life, health, body-feeling, mobility and everyday life competences of the PD patients.
• In West London and Brighton, singing classes have helped people with respiratory problems to relax and learn new breathing techniques. Out of 500 people, 70% said they felt markedly better after the workshops. A similar earlier trial resulted in patients needing less medication and fewer trips to hospital, sleeping better and feeling less isolated.

What then are some of the high level benefits of commissioning organisations in the arts and cultural sector?

Arts and cultural activities are being used to meet a range of policy objectives, including personalisation, integrated health and social care, wellbeing, co-production, prevention and social value.

Research has shown that arts and cultural activities are particularly valuable when compared with other interventions, as they are more likely to engage participants and ensure continuing participation. And they can reach people without stigmatising them

The participative nature of the arts and cultural sector lends itself to co-production, and there are examples of good practice that show how participative arts can build coproduction into the provision of public services.

And all of these benefits can help acheive value for money.

So it’s clear that there are benefits to commissioning arts and cultural organisations — for commissioners outcomes and for society as a whole.

What’s more, the Social Value Act (2013) can act as an enabler for these benefits to be realised.

‘The Social Value Act, an important piece of legislation that could be used to strengthen the links between different services and the wider environmental, economic and social conditions of an area, could harness the arts and cultural sector in pursuit of these objectives.’

Read more about how we’re doing that here.