UK arts lose £38 million in Lottery money
mainTe National Lottery is not as popular as it was and the arts wll suffer in cnsequence.
Last year, Arts Council England (ACE) received £266m in Lottery money, down £38m on the year before.
Details here.
Relying on lottery money to fund arts…yes, that shows just how much culture is appreciated in merry ol’ England/UK/whatever. We are even funnier in the US: states claim that lottery funds go to….education!
Might I add a wager? I’ll bet my shoes that the percentage of UK lottery ticket buyers who attend a cultural event funded by their largess is less than 5%. Any takers (I have no stats to back this assertion, by the way).
Lotteries are taxation of the stupid without the need to put up actual tax rates/VAT/gas tax/whatever. Here in the US State lotteries fund education etc.
More like 2.5% they need to get them to buy more scratch cards obviously.
The middle and upper middle classes have always had the view that if cultural events cannot pay for themselves, then the rest of us “plebs” should subsidise them (how much does the ROH receive in subsidy?). I don’t recall the Beatles, Stones or any other rock music act getting (or even asking for) any subsidies. Now wait for Mr Borstlap to step forward with his intellectual bullshit about “art and culture”
The Stones, Beatles racked it in on record sales alone in a mass market. Classical is niche and has to have a hand out to keep it afloat. We would say in Ireland that Mr Bortslap is no intellectual he wouldn’t know a slip jig from a hornpipe, sure all his stuff is tuneless shite.
Careless misrepresentation here Norman. The UK has lost £55m in arts Lottery funding, of which England has lost £38m. Perhaps you will correct?
The real story here is why no one at DCMS or in Parliament has the taste to go after Lottery operator Camelot to increase the tiny percentage of Lottery takings that go towards good causes to make good the drop in sales? Meanwhile Camelot continue to make vast profits for themselves despite their disastrous business decisions (doubling the price of lottery tickets!!) whilst other commercial lotteries thrive