Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Lisa Nandy unveils £270m funding to make arts more accessible

Culture secretary praises indispensable sector and cites Beckham film appeal

Lisa Nandy unveils £270m funding to make arts more accessible

Lisa Nandy

CULTURE secretary Lisa Nandy has unveiled a £270 million investment backed ‘Arts Everywhere’ Fund to revitalise the UK’s “crumbling” arts and culture infrastructure after the Covid pandemic.

In a lecture last Thursday (20) at Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace, Nandy said the new fund was needed to meet the vision of making the arts accessible to all and mentioned British Asian filmmaker Gurinder Chadha’s 2002 boxoffice hit Bend Like Beckham to illustrate the point.


Nandy said her investment plans for the arts would include targeted support through £85m towards a ‘Creative Foundations Fund’ with the Arts Council to ensure that art is not seen as a luxury.

“I know it’s been a tough decade. Funding for the arts has been slashed.

Buildings are crumbling, and the pandemic hit the arts and heritage world hard,” she said.

“This is personal for me. I still remember how ground-breaking it was to watch Bend It Like Beckham – the first time I had seen a family like ours depicted on screen not for being Asian (or in my case mixed race) but because of a young girl’s love of football.”

The culture secretary was born to an Indian father and English mother.

Nandy said, “This country must always resist the temptation to see the arts as a luxury. The visual arts, music, film, theatre, opera, spoken word, poetry, literature and dance are the building blocks of our cultural life, indispensable to the life of a nation, always, but especially now.”

The minister was addressing the inaugural Jennie Lee Lecture in memory of Scottish Labour MP and the UK’s first arts minister behind the country’s only white paper on the accessibility of the arts in the mid-1960s.

“I am delighted to announce the ‘Arts Everywhere’ fund as a fitting legacy for Jennie Lee’s vision – over £270m investment that will begin to fix the foundations of our arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage sector in communities across the country. We believe in them and we will back them,” Nandy added.

“So much has been taken from us in this dark divisive decade, but above all our sense of self-confidence as a nation. But we are good at the arts.

“We export music, film and literature all over the world. We attract investment to every part of the UK from every part of the globe. We are the interpreters and the storytellers, with so many stories to tell that must be heard.”

More than 100 representatives from the arts industry attended the lecture, hosted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

“Ageing capital infrastructure remains a tremendous drag on the arts sector’s ability to create the work for which it is globally celebrated and maximise its economic and social contribution,” said Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) co-artistic directors Daniel Evans, Tamara Harvey and chief executive Andrew Leveson.

More For You

Minister 'open to talks' on British Sikh regiment

Lord Coaker (Photo: UK Parliament)

Minister 'open to talks' on British Sikh regiment

A FRESH parliamentary initiative to establish a dedicated Sikh regiment within the British Army has gained momentum in the House of Lords, with defence minister Lord Coaker expressing willingness to engage in further discussions about the long-debated proposal.

The issue was raised in the House of Lords on Monday (7) by Labour peer Lord Sahota, who asked whether there had been any progress on long-standing calls for a Sikh regiment.

Keep ReadingShow less
Heatwave Alert: Don’t Leave Contraceptives or Medication in Cars

Heat can also damage everyday items like sunglasses, suncream and vape devices

iStock

Drivers warned to remove contraceptives and medication from cars during UK heatwave

Highlights:

  • Experts urge motorists to avoid leaving certain items in vehicles during upcoming heatwave
  • Temperatures expected to rise above 30°C across large parts of the UK
  • Contraceptives and common medications can lose effectiveness in high heat
  • Heat can also damage everyday items like sunglasses, suncream and vape devices

Drivers urged to act as UK braces for extended heatwave

Drivers across the UK are being urged to remove a range of everyday items from their cars ahead of a predicted heatwave, with experts warning that the rising temperatures could pose both safety and health risks.

The Met Office has forecast a prolonged spell of hot weather, with temperatures expected to soar into the low 30s on Thursday and Friday. Much of the UK is likely to hit its regional heatwave threshold by the weekend, with this episode potentially affecting a wider area and lasting longer than previous hot spells.

Keep ReadingShow less
Royal Mail

The Royal Mail logo is seen on the side of a van as the UK government clear a 3.57 billion pound takeover offer by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in London, December 16, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)

Reuters

Ofcom updates Royal Mail delivery targets, starts pricing review

MEDIA regulator Ofcom has set new minimum delivery standards for Royal Mail and revised existing targets in an effort to reduce delays. It also announced a review into pricing and affordability, amid concerns over rising stamp prices.

Royal Mail, which has faced fines of around $20 million over the past two years for not meeting delivery targets, is currently trying to modernise operations and focus more on parcel deliveries.

Keep ReadingShow less
Doctors' strike

The doctors had previously accepted a 22 per cent pay rise covering 2023 to 2025, which brought an end to earlier rounds of strikes.

Getty Images

England's resident doctors announce five-day strike over pay dispute

JUNIOR doctors in England will go on strike from 25 to 30 July, their union said on Wednesday, after the British government said it could not meet their demand for an improved pay offer this year.

The doctors, also known as resident doctors, make up a large part of the medical workforce. They were offered an average 5.4 per cent pay rise but are seeking 29 per cent, saying this is needed to reverse years of real-terms pay erosion.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

FILE PHOTO: Keir Starmer (L) with Narendra Modi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

INDIA's prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the UK by the end of this month for a visit that could see both sides formally sign the landmark India-UK free trade agreement and explore ways to expand bilateral ties in the defence and security sphere, diplomatic sources said.

Both sides are in the process of finalising the dates for Modi's visit to the country by the end of July or the first part of August, they said.

Keep ReadingShow less