A newly published report has claimed that public spending in the arts is too London centric. The report, Rebalancing Our Cultural Capital, states that government spending in 2012/13 involved £69 per resident being spent in the capital, in comparison to the £4.60 per resident spent elsewhere in England.
A new report reveals a majority of arts public spending is spent on a minority of residents in the captial
In 2012/13 £163m of arts public funding was circulated to organisations in London, while only £159m was granted to the rest of England.
The report, written by Peter Stark, Christopher Gordon and David Powell, does not take into account the £440m of local council funding toward the arts.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, chair of the Arts Council Sir Peter Bazalgette responded to the report, saying: ‘We need to do more … I would say judge us in two years’ time. The trend is towards more spending in the regions and that’s what we’ll be doing.’
