Making Music joins advisory group of the Commission on Culture and Local Government (England) and responds to budget consultation on funding for culture in Scotland
Local Government Association (LGA – England) instigated commission chaired by Baroness Lola Young
The purpose of the commission is to bring national, regional and local actors in the publicly funded cultural realm together to explore and communicate the role of council funded and supported culture, including its contribution to economic growth, levelling up and addressing regional inequalities, and articulating a vision for the future of culture in the context of place.
Making Music was asked to join the advisory group and submit written responses on the four themes which are the focus of the Commission:
- a sustainable and inclusive economic (post-Covid) recovery: we draw attention to the need for local infrastructure, particularly venues, and the contribution of leisure-time music groups to the local economy
- health inequalities: our response outlines the contribution music groups could make in the context of social prescribing
- social mobility through cultural education and creative skills: here we discuss the significance of music libraries, libraries in general as hubs, and the desirability of connecting groups to Music Education Hubs and schools
- place: under this theme we urge local authorities to better facilitate the contribution of music groups to celebrating their locality and generating local pride
Many challenges facing local authorities are ones to which leisure-time music groups, with relatively minor input and support, can make a very strong contribution and Making Music was pleased to have an opportunity to put that case to the commission.
Scotland: budget scrutiny 2023-24 – consultation on funding for culture
Here, as in our LGA submission, we highlighted our concerns about local infrastructure, particularly venues for regular meetings/rehearsals and for performances. We reflected members’ anxiety that suitable building stock is not available or disappearing due to lack of maintenance or budgetary pressures, a problem which can be addressed with modest levels of funding.
We detailed the significance of freelance professional musicians for the leisure-time music sector and therefore the need for these artists to be adequately supported.
With regard to embedding culture across government in order to harness its potential for supporting health and well-being, we pointed out that leisure-time music groups are frequently not recognised as valuable partners to help deliver such outcomes and that mapping their activity would be a useful first step.
The consultation also enabled us to talk about digital exclusion and poverty; their underlying issues, such as poor broadband coverage, lack of hardware or skills, cannot be solved by Making Music and need to be addressed at governmental level. But we passed on our observation that music making was the driver during Covid for many of our member musicians to learn to use digital platforms, some of whom had not used this technology before and were now enabled to use it for other purposes.
