‘Worse than the 1980s’ – that’s the arts sector now. It’s not a good look for a Labour government | Charlotte Higgins

So many pre-election promises: but still a cultural malaise spreads from our schools to museums, galleries and theatres

If a former director of the National Theatre says that “more harm has been done than good” to the arts by the new Labour government, it is safe to say things have got off to a rocky start. It is hard to imagine a slice of British society more sympathetic on principle to Labour than those working in the creative sector. Hopes were high: Keir Starmer made a powerful speech on the arts before the election. The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, began by doing everyone a service by unilaterally declaring the end of the culture wars – perhaps something not entirely in her gift, though it’s clear she was calling time on the endless spitting and sniping at the “woke” arts favoured by the previous government. And yet: all I hear is disappointment and desperation, and not only from Nicholas Hytner. There is a void where policy and action should be. In a speech in Gateshead in mid-January, Nandy promised to “turbocharge” the creative industries, but failed to mention theatre and museums, art or artists, in any meaningful way. Much of the £60m funding she announced was repackaged money.

The Labour government has no dedicated arts minister. Instead, Chris Bryant’s role is split between two ministries: he is minister for data protection and telecoms, and minister for creative industries, arts and tourism. There is no sense that Labour has yet grasped the delicate interconnected forces that underpin the arts. It is not OK to shove everything together, from ballerinas to florists, into a thing called “the creative industries”. The arts are different, and they need attention.

Charlotte Higgins is the Guardian’s chief culture writer

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