Letter: Sponsorship for the rich: what a way to fund the arts
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE SURVEY conducted by the Association for Business Sponsorship of the Arts ('Arts-goers are mainly old and rich', 6 June) demonstrates what we all suspected: that business sponsorship helps provide arts for the rich while the majority of the population are left out in the cultural cold.
The related obscenity is that provision of the arts for young people and for community audiences, never adequately funded by central or local government, is being devastated. To give an example, Theatre-in-Education (TIE) companies who work with young people of all economic conditions, ethnic backgrounds and abilities, are closing or cutting back all over England and Wales. Next year TIE will virtually disappear. This is due, in the main, to government capping of local authority grants and to the devolution of education authorities' budgets to the schools. pounds 1m has been lost to TIE companies this year - a drop in the ocean compared with the annual profits of the government's spending on weapons of destruction, or maintaining the Royal Yacht.
Is it not time to change these anti-social cultural values? We could make a start by properly funding the arts and making cultural provision for the majority of the population a normal part of government expenditure.
Geoff Gillham
Standing Conference of Young People's Theatre
Hereford
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments