Wear your Twibbon with pride and then do something

The NCA’s ‘I Value the Arts’ campaign launched on Monday.  One of the unexpected outcomes in the first few days has been the global ‘trending’ of the campaign’s ‘Twibbon’: a little badge that you can attach to your profile picture on Twitter and Facebook to show your support for a campaign.

Seeing seas of pink hands on Twitter is lovely and a great way to promote a worthy campaign.  But what impact will wearing a ‘Twibbon’ have in the ‘Big Society’ with massive reductions in public spending?  Pretty close to nil I’d say.  And that’s why the ‘I Value the Arts’ campaign is different and complementary to other campaigns and petitions going on at the moment.  Through the campaign’s website it is gathering a national database of people who care and are prepared to act to ensure opportunities to take part in arts activity are still available in their communities.

In England alone, Local Government invests £500 million every year in arts, galleries and museums.  None of these are ‘statutory’ services, which means that every penny of this investment will be under pressure in the coming months.  Of course there will be cuts to the arts, as there will be to all local public services.  But unless those people who value the contribution the arts make to their local community make their voice heard, cuts to the arts are likely to be disproportionate. Surveys of Councillors (who will be faced with the most appalling choices in the coming months) have been saying this for over a year.

Even if cuts for the arts reflect the overall reduction for Local Government, arts organisations will still need to work in different ways and rely more on the contributions of people in their community who are prepared to donate time and resources.  ‘I Value the Arts’ will give arts organisations a national resource to reach local people who care.

For the campaign to deliver its potential it needs to move beyond the arts community and be understood and supported by a large proportion of the public throughout the UK.  Don’t just wear a ’Twibbon’.  Talk to your audiences about the campaign.  Talk to your friends about the campaign.  And then ask them to talk to their friends. And make sure they all sign up at www.ivaluethearts.org.uk. 

Together we can make a difference.

David Brownlee, Chief Executive, Audiences UK