For close to a decade, since the launch of the first edition at the House of Commons in 2011, the Arts Index has been an essential tool for anyone looking to take our country’s cultural pulse. From individual cultural organisations looking to make the case for the difference their daily work makes, to those patrolling the corridors of power in Whitehall, the Arts Index provides an objective, unequivocal picture of the contribution that the arts and culture make to our nation.
The 8th edition of the Arts Index covers a decade of austerity (2007-2018), recording how the ratio of public funding to income earned by the arts sector has shifted dramatically, with organisations becoming far more reliant on earned income as public funding, philanthropy and business support has declined. This shift towards the commercial means COVID-19 has brought the sector to its knees.
The Arts Index pulls together data into 20 indicators, from funding and creative education to public attitudes towards the arts and is produced by the National Campaign for the Arts, in partnership with King’s College London, Arts Emergency and the Creative Industries Federation,
The launch of the Arts Index will be accompanied by news of an online Open Space event, Somewhere Over the Rainbow on Friday the 26th June from 1.30-4pm for artists, cultural workers and activists, exploring how the sector survives and thrives beyond COVID-19.
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