The debate about culture

The cultural sector is in a state of flux at the moment with many levels of debate going on. Here are some of the conversations.

In April this year, Maria Miller, culture secretary, spoke about the need for culture to make a financial case for itself in order to fend off more cuts to the sector.

The Guardian responded with this piece by Dan Rebellato, who pointed out that art takes risks that other sectors are unable or unwilling to take. By ignoring that, the potential to miss out on opportunities is magnified and increased.

Also in April, the Crafts Council responded to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's plans for cutting "crafts" out of the measurements for creative industries. Here is the Policy Brief that was sent out by the Crafts Council. If you feel strongly about the possible reclassification of crafts, consider signing the epetition to Government.

At the moment, there seems to be a lot of talk about cuts in the arts sector. Crafts is in danger of being struck out of the figures for economic benefit, the arts are being asked to justify their existence through measures that have been proved time and time again.

I feel that the creative industries are very important not only for the financial benefits that they bring but also because of the social and cultural impact that they can have. Perhaps it is time we took a fresh look at those measures and stopped talking about culture solely in financial terms? What do our readers think?