Staying with spending cuts…
There are some further comments to be made on the earlier statements on politics of difference but also noting the existence of underlying commonalities in planning terms. The two are not inconsistent with each other. Political perceptions will determine how the proposals for spending cuts will be determined and even justified. But for people working in cultural industries and others following the role and position of the creative economy, there are no expectations that investment in culture will be determined by political choice only. Culture is competing for resources; the need for providing more support for health, education and social services, for example, must be understood at the same time as realising that in the next three years, culture will have received substantial funding compared to the last ten years. However, what will the post 2012 scenarios for cultural spending look like? The time to open up that debate is now. Are cultural services departments of local authorities, strategic planners in the funding agencies and forward planning strategists for the business side of cultural delivery developing scenarios and options for policy makers to consider? If not, will there be funding gaps resulting from arbitrary cutbacks by the centre? Taking this analysis further, what is the role of the research and development pundits in campaigning for resources in relation to different economic scenarios? Deciding to do nothing is not an option. Perhaps, an equally bad option is to take a back seat while the political process works itself out, that is, the electorate makes its choices. Who are lobbyists for culture? How and when are they going to present an effective campaign based on evidence and creative thinking to sustain appropriate levels of investment over the next ten years? As an example, during a best value inspection, the executive director for a local authority with growing urban centres was asked if he had a planning model to project the volumes of future waste generation and the costs that his city was expected to sustain in order to meet their environmental targets? He replied that he had a ‘business model’ based on a number of planning variables to offer reliable projections for his service under different conditions….but the model was for his private use only.
