In case you have been hiding in a remote hut in outer Mongolia for the past while, you may have noticed that there is this little general election thing coming up really rather soon (here in the UK).
In fact in exactly two weeks I will be donning my voting attire (this is actually the first general election I can vote in so I haven't got the outfit sussed yet, but I will be carefully planning something appropriate in which to visit the ballot box) and trotting over to the polling station.
Personally I think the whole thing is really rather exciting. Especially since the last thing I had a chance to vote for was whether my college should start using free range eggs in the canteen. As I'm sure you can imagine it was hardly a torturous choice. This time round the stakes are pretty high (not that I'm denying the importance of free range eggs however).
Obviously politics has a huge impact on all areas of our lives, but something I'll be looking out for is what all those men and women in suits and especially colour coordinated ties/other accessories are planning to do about the arts.
Now that it is a bit late for me to train as a doctor or become an astronaut or do something possibly requiring a science-y A level or two, I am now sort of stuck with career choices pretty much only involving options to do something vaguely artsy.
Despite being not terribly competent when it comes to numbers I stumbled across some figures which even my brain can munch on and ponder.
So, if between now and May 6th you spend a bit of time pondering over which party you might back, do spare a thought for what the parties policies on the arts are, bearing in mind the following*...
- Two thirds of the adult population enjoy the arts and go to theatres, cinemas, galleries, museums, historic sites. In fact more people visit theatre every year than football stadia.
- Two million people are employed in the cultural and creative industries.
In fact in exactly two weeks I will be donning my voting attire (this is actually the first general election I can vote in so I haven't got the outfit sussed yet, but I will be carefully planning something appropriate in which to visit the ballot box) and trotting over to the polling station.
Personally I think the whole thing is really rather exciting. Especially since the last thing I had a chance to vote for was whether my college should start using free range eggs in the canteen. As I'm sure you can imagine it was hardly a torturous choice. This time round the stakes are pretty high (not that I'm denying the importance of free range eggs however).
Obviously politics has a huge impact on all areas of our lives, but something I'll be looking out for is what all those men and women in suits and especially colour coordinated ties/other accessories are planning to do about the arts.
Now that it is a bit late for me to train as a doctor or become an astronaut or do something possibly requiring a science-y A level or two, I am now sort of stuck with career choices pretty much only involving options to do something vaguely artsy.
Despite being not terribly competent when it comes to numbers I stumbled across some figures which even my brain can munch on and ponder.
So, if between now and May 6th you spend a bit of time pondering over which party you might back, do spare a thought for what the parties policies on the arts are, bearing in mind the following*...
- Two thirds of the adult population enjoy the arts and go to theatres, cinemas, galleries, museums, historic sites. In fact more people visit theatre every year than football stadia.
- Two million people are employed in the cultural and creative industries.
- These industres grew by an average of 5% a year between 1997 and 2007, compared to 3% for the economy as a whole.
- The sector contributes £60billion (7.3%) a year to the British economy.
- The annual exports in British cultural goods amount to £11.6billion.
- Total cultural spending represents 1% of the NHS budget.
As you may or may not know, Hoipolloi receives regular funding from Arts Council England which enables us to produce the work that we do and tour it to audiences across the UK. Over the last few years we've also been lucky enough to take this work around the world, helping to highlight the wealth of creative talent this country has.
Just something to remember as you tick the box on 6 May!
- The sector contributes £60billion (7.3%) a year to the British economy.
- The annual exports in British cultural goods amount to £11.6billion.
- Total cultural spending represents 1% of the NHS budget.
As you may or may not know, Hoipolloi receives regular funding from Arts Council England which enables us to produce the work that we do and tour it to audiences across the UK. Over the last few years we've also been lucky enough to take this work around the world, helping to highlight the wealth of creative talent this country has.
Just something to remember as you tick the box on 6 May!
* We gathered this date from Cultural Capital: A Manifesto for the Future
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