SOWING THE SEEDS OF RESILIENCE, UK Arts and Culture's shared challenge with Agriculture

This week two items in the Press caught the eagle eye of The Business of Pleasure. Two apparently disconnected subjects in two very different organs:

On the 1st of February, Charlotte Higgins’ piece in The Guardian kicked off with:               

Worse than the 1980s’ -that’s the arts sector now. It’s not a good look for the Labour Government.*

On the 6th of February, The NFU Newsletter (‘the voice of British farming’) led with:

UK food security in ‘precarious state’

The NFU were quoting the (NPC) National Preparedness Commission ‘an independent and non-political body, whose fundamental objective is to promote policies and actions to help the UK be significantly better prepared to avoid, mitigate, respond to, and recover from major shocks, threats and challenges.’

Charlotte Higgins went on to quote (NRH) Nicholas Robert Hytner, the former Artistic Director of the National Theatre who (IMO) totally transformed the organisation’s fortunes:

‘“…more harm has been done than good” to the arts by the new Labour Government.’

The NPC had just published a report from a team led by Tim Lang, Professor Emeritus of Food Policy at City St George’s, University of London, entitled: 

‘Just in case: 7 steps to narrow the UK civil food resilience gap’

-which got me wondering if UK Arts and Culture might learn anything from this proposed plan for Agriculture?

'STEP ONE: Learn from others'

(DT: Never a bad idea to nick from the best and avoid the pitfalls that others haven't)

 ‘...Ten countries were approached through formal channels such as embassies or other officials to ascertain what – if anything – their countries did for civil food resilience. Introductions led to interviews, exploration of websites, discussions with citizens and, where possible, civil society organisations. This process was not exhaustive and should be taken as preliminary but nevertheless provided sufficient detail and interest to draw some lessons for the UK’

'STEP TWO: Assess the public’s mood, perceptions and engagement.'

(DT:  Again, never a bad idea to test the water and align with public sentiment.  Note also the NPC’s take on government assumptions and ‘asymmetric rationing.’)

'...There is a danger that UK policymakers are relying on little more than assumptions that food will automatically flow.  In fact, the research reveals a situation that amounts to asymmetric rationing.  Confidence in availability of food is income related. Large numbers of the British population are technically food-insecure according to the Government’s own measure.

'STEP THREE: Map the community’s food assets – ‘prepare, share, care’ (DT: What would a comprehensive audit of the UK’s Arts and Cultural estate look like?  If it included basic information (capacity, contact details, etc.) on everything from West End to Regional Theatre, Major Stadiums and Arenas to Nightclubs and Grass Roots Music Venues, the National Gallery and High Street Galleries?)

'STEP FOUR:  Local authorities are key to building civil food resilience'

 (DT: It used to be Westminster Business Council’s proud boast that its borough generated more revenue than the City of London and six European countries. Other councils might face more pressing dilemmas, e.g. Lambeth’s housing and social care priorities being stacked up against supporting the National Theatre)

'STEP FIVE: Create local Food Resilience Committees to co-ordinate resilience preparation'

(DT: The UK government has set up something called Local Resilience Forums (LRFs)

which are multi-agency partnerships made up from representatives from local public services, including the emergency services, local authorities, the NHS, etc. The Arts and Cultural equivalent might include local Education bodies, Skills Training and Recruitment, Licensing, etc.)

'STEP SIX:  The UK Central State must create and maintain a coherent food policy' (DT: Sounds like a plan)

'STEP SEVEN:  Re-set the Government Resilience Framework for food' (DT: What would a Government Resilience Framework for Arts and Culture even look like?)

Now some of you might be a tad skeptical about my equating the provision of Arts and Culture with the provision of, well, provisions. But frankly, all animals eat.  Even fungus will chew its way through, you know, pretty much anything. Arts and culture, on the other hand, are the defining characteristic of our species, as it emerged 80,000 to 100,000 years ago.  And in the UK, perhaps more than anywhere in the world, we are going to need them more than ever before. Here’s a scientist, way back in 2017, talking about the likely impact of AI on employment:**

“I look at my daughter, who’s two now, and I think I would give her the opposite advice to the advice I was given to people my age, which is, if you want to be a lawyer, OK fine, but make sure you have something like dancing or acting to fall back on.”

DT 7 February 2025

 (Proud father of one singer-songwriter and one rapper)

*Thanks to Patrick Gracey Chair of SOLT and UK Theatre, for sharing the article on Linkedin

**The rise of Uber and the plight of the Watermen:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09h34y3