Top artists campaign to save Britain’s ‘vibrant arts culture’

Protesters: Tracey Emin, left, and David Hockney
12 April 2012

Government cuts risk destroying an arts culture that is envied worldwide, Britain's top artists warned today.

More than a hundred artists including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Bridget Riley, Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin have joined the appeal to stop the proposed 25 per cent cuts.

They are taking turns to produce a new artwork of protest every week until the decision is announced next month. The first two — by David Shrigley and by Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller with Scott King — were unveiled today; work by another Turner Prize winner, Mark Wallinger, will follow.

Members of the public can view the protest pieces on the websites of the coalition behind the campaign, which includes 2,000 artists and galleries from the Serpentine to the Hayward and South London Gallery.

The public are being invited to join the artists, who also include Sam Taylor-Wood, Anish Kapoor, Steve McQueen, Maggi Hambling and the Chapman brothers, and to sign an online petition to be sent to the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. The petition says: "It has taken 50 years to create a vibrant arts culture in Britain that is the envy of the world."

It appeals to the Government not to "risk destroying this long-term achievement and the social and economic benefits it brings to all."

In Shrigley's film, a farmer explains the economic benefits of the arts and says: "Let's face it, we're crap at most things these days, but we're brilliant at the arts. The arts are to Britain what the sun is to Spain."

The costs of Shrigley's animation have been covered with a grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, set up by the late publishing philanthropist Paul Hamlyn.

Robert Dufton, its director, said: "We are pleased to support this campaign and hope that its message is taken on board.

"As an independent funder of the arts we are aware of the effect that cuts will have on many of the organisations we support. We stand to lose a great deal as a society if arts organisations are forced to stop the very valuable work they do."

Mark Wallinger said cuts to arts funding were a false economy. "Eight of the top tourist attractions are museums. And the arts are very efficient in turning its funding into products and attracting people from around the world. We are the centre of culture."

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