To think that £1 billion of tax payers money spent on the arts in this country really only serves a minority

[goodnessgracious]

AIBU to think that organisations such as The Royal Opera House (they receive 26 million a year) should be self funding and not relying on tax payers money.

I would have thought that arts funding should be to support up and coming arts or at least arts that will benefit all of society. I really don't understand why certain organisations receive so much help from tax payers?

They definatly exist but what you have to remember is that (similar to football) opera & ballet have seasons & tickets for that season go on sale altogether on a specific date each year (which is publicised) so you do have to plan in advance.

Hurrah for reallywitty

It's summer so will be all touring companies but I put in a search for events in the next 30 days with tickets under £50. Lots came up, many from £10

www.roh.org.uk/events/ticket-search?when=next30Days&whenFrom=&whenTo=&price=under50Pounds&priceFrom=&priceTo=

I am a great lover of the arts and used to love going to the theatre years ago but it sticks in my craw that there are people in hostels, children in need of operations and 26million going to the ROH. I don't have the solutions but it just doesn't seem right.

Goodness, orchestra stalls and grand tier are generally where the most expensive seats are. I don't know why you'd choose to engage in this kind of pedantry and ignore the rest of what's being discussed. Perhaps because you realise you don't have a leg to stand on?

I totally agree OP and I'm all for arts support.
Yes, of course it should exist but be wider spread to encourage more than the social elite.
So much goes to opera and Classical yet very little to folk, jazz etc.
In addition the Arts grants are managed by salaried employees who really are unable to manage the job and therefore waste much of the tax payers money that funds their wages. After several experiences of this lately, I'm afraid I have to agree with you.

Take a look at this still

www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/may/07/arts-worth-millions-uk-economy

1.6 million people in England and Scotland attend a football match for the season. So 60.8 million seats are sold for football matches and that does not include cup matches, international matches amateur matches and TV or people who play but don't watch matches.

I cannot believe for a minute that their are more Opera and Ballet seats sold than that or that it is more popular.

Yanbu.

Nearly a million families on Britain used a food bank last year. That money could have fed people instead of staging theatre productions.

My dad was a professional actor and I agree absolutely that the arts are important, and everyone should be able to access them, but when there are people in the country who cannot afford to eat I cannot agree that this money is being well spent.

Paying for plays whilst cutting benefits is not the hallmark of a civilised society, but rather the sign of a hugely unfair and savage social order with skewed priorities.

thanks singsong

cingo

It was you who brought it up! I was replying to your post.

Yet you can't have a civilised society without arts.

The arts is the first sector to have its funding slashed, this is always the case. Do people seriously think the government cut funding for regional theatre and then redirect that money to foodbanks and social housing?

They don't.

I'm in awe at how some arts organisations have battled on despite huge cuts.

OK let's get my OP clear.

I have not said whether I go to the theatre or not. I am merely asking whether it is right to spend taxes on something that generally interests a minority.

That is all. Yes, there are outreach programs but ballet and opera is generally watched regularly by a minority.

really how much of that is going back to where it really needs to? I can only go by peoples experience here of what poverty in the UK is like but it seems pretty bleak. Desperate families bringing up children won't have the luxury of a ticket to the ballet, they scarce have the price of a pint of milk.

OP there's a great yes, minister episode on this very question.

The establishment like opera, theatre and ballet precisely because the plebs don't go.

It's only on mumsnet you'd get a response like you've had here. Most normal people agree with you.

Football does get subsidies - grassroots that is. As do most other mainstream sports. Mainly from lottery but also exchequer funding.

Cultural industries are worth £12bn and account for 1 in 12 jobs in this country. Absolutely the arts are worth investing in, they give the UK a massive international boost.

The establishment like opera, theatre and ballet precisely because the plebs don't go.'

One of the UK's most vibrant theatre scenes is in Glasgow. Hardly a city known for being posh and elitist.

And as for 'most normal people agree' comment, utterly moronic. Lots of 'normal' people work in the arts.

Without the arts life isn't worth living. YABVU. The total level of funding in this country, especially for arts ed, is scandalously low.

OP, you're wrong. I spent many many years of my career doing education and outreach parts of Opera jobs linked to the main performances and companies only get the funding if they are proving these kinds of projects to schools where there are pupils who would not otherwise have any access to the arts. I frequently went into underperforming schools and found children that were hugely attracted to Opera and were delighted to hear something so unusual up close.

I don't know, still, I was just trying to point out that arts funding generates more income for the economy. I don't think it's as simple as George Osborne moving several zeroes from his "arts" spreadsheet to his "welfare" spreadsheet.

weatherall

Yes, my OH just said the same thing. It's meant to very funny.

Can't find it though.

OP, google "ballet hoo" for an inspirational story about English Ballet and outreach.

Lady I am fairly sure you can have a civilised society without subsidised arts.

I would question whether a society which allows 3.5 million children, nearly a third of all children, to be raised in poverty has any right to call itself civilised no matter how many ballets it performs.

Coffee - no you can't.