Framing the Future: The Political Case for Strengthening the Visual Arts Ecosystem makes four key recommendations ahead of the UK Government Spending Review:
- Establish a UK cultural investment partnership fund
- Create a £5 million grassroots visual arts fund
- Expand access to creative education in and out of school
- Restore specialist subject funding in higher education
“If you give artists the support they need, they will thrive” Dame Tracey Emin DBE
Artist and a-n member Larry Achiampong, who spoke at the report’s launch at the House of Commons on 24 April 2025, explains the importance of the report: “The arts are vanishing from education, especially in state schools, creating a system where only the middle and upper classes can access creative opportunities. Rising costs, falling resources, and cuts to non-profits are pushing artists – especially freelancers – out of the sector. If we allow only the wealthy to become artists, we risk narrowing the stories we tell and losing the richness that comes from diverse life experiences.”
Backed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Visual Arts and Artists, the report was commissioned by CVAN (Contemporary Visual Arts Network) and John Hansard Gallery, part of the University of Southampton, in collaboration with a-n, DACS (Design and Artists Copyright Society) and Plus Tate, and written by Erksine Analysis.
Voices in the arts
MP Cat Eccles, Chair of APPG for Visual Arts and Artists:
“The APPG for Visual Arts and Artists have endorsed this critical report and asks the UK Government to heed the recommendations made to help secure the future of the UK’s visual arts and artists.”
Dame Tracey Emin DBE:
“This report gives the government the tools it needs to provide vital support for artists and the visual arts sector. We have a wealth of hugely talented artists in the UK, but that talent can’t survive in isolation. If you give artists the support they need, they will thrive. If you don’t, only the privileged will be able to become artists, and our culture will suffer as a result.”
Julie Lomax, CEO of a-n:
“From the drawings we make before we learn to read, to the gavel coming down on a record-breaking Jenny Saville painting, this report highlights the value artists bring to our economy, education and wellbeing. Government investment in the arts is needed now – to nurture the next generation of artists and sustain the UK’s position as a global market leader.”
Top image: Garth Gratrix, Flamboyant Flamingos, 2024, Grundy Art Gallery. Photo: Benjamin Nuttall
