He went on to highlight the cities which had bid to be 'cities of culture', saying they are the ones that get it. It’s only a shame that more don’t. He went on to cite Chester Council's plans to improve the city's cultural offer as yet another example of the arts in the UK waving, not drowning.
The MA reports that 'leading figures from across the arts sector, including the Arts Council's new chairman Peter Bazalgette, have expressed serious concern about the loss of local government investment in culture. Recent figures show that local authority funding for museums dropped by £23m in 2011-12, while a report by the Department for Communities and Local Government, also found that cultural spend by local authorities in England fell 7.8% in that period.'
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: I am sure the news that we are not in crisis will come as a surprise to most of the museums in the UK - to the 400 professionals who have been made redundant in the national museums in the last year and to the 30% of museums who responded to our 2012 survey saying they had had their budgets cut by 35% in the last two years.
Well said Mark. Ed Vaizey must have been talking to his London museum friends (generously funded by him) again.
There is a bonus point for guessing where he made this speech. Yes, in Chester. Funny that.
