Ars gratia artis, unless you’re the Culture Mininster

Via the BBC, Culture Minister Maria Miller on new funding for the arts.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller has said the arts world must make the case for public funding by focusing on its economic, not artistic, value. She told arts executives in a speech that they must “hammer home the value of culture to our economy… When times are tough and money is tight, our focus must be on culture’s economic impact.” …Arts organisations were told they should “demonstrate the healthy dividends that our investment continues to pay”.

I find this a shockingly poor idea. Yes, it’s nice to have a few successful arts projects that make a huge return, but a successful arts project is not always measured in monetary terms. I’ve always thought that one of the driving forces behind arts funding is to support the projects that could not make a financial return, not help contribute to the latest Richard Curtis/Hugh Grant bumblefesting blockbuster.