Dear
I’m asking for your support for the UK’s Visual Arts and artists.
As the Government looks to deliver a ten-year plan for national renewal, drive economic growth, and shape a modern industrial strategy, the visual arts and artists must be recognised as vital contributors to these missions.
I am writing to request your support in championing the visual arts sector and our country’s visual artists through the forthcoming Government Spending Review. As your constituent, I am asking that you write to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, urging them to consider and adopt the recommendations outlined in the newly published report Framing the Future, to help achieve the UK's wider growth and renewal agenda.
Launched in the House of Commons, Framing the Future: The Political Case for Strengthening the Visual Arts Ecosystem is supported by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Visual Arts & Artists. It highlights the urgent need to protect and invest in the visual arts—a sector that generated £4.1 billion in exports in 2024 and plays a vital role in regional regeneration, education, and community well-being.
Despite its economic value and international standing, the visual arts sector is under significant pressure:
Public investment has declined;
Opportunities for young people to study art are shrinking;
Many artists and arts organisations face financial precarity;
Local creative infrastructure is at risk.
Alongside recognising the value of Grant-in-Aid, the critical role of Arts Council England, and the inclusion of the visual arts within the UK’s Industrial Strategy for growth, the report sets out four practical and impactful recommendations to support and invest in arts infrastructure across the country:
A UK Cultural Investment Partnership Fund to protect public sector infrastructure and support at-risk organisations
A £5 Million Grassroots Visual Arts Fund to sustain local studios and artist-led initiatives;
£8.4 million annual investment in National Saturday Clubs to expand access to creative education;
Restoration of Specialist Subject Funding in Higher Education to protect the creative talent pipeline.
Furthermore, we urge you to oppose the proposed cuts to disability benefits, which threaten the livelihoods and creative contributions of Disabled artists and communities across the UK. These reductions undermine the progress toward a truly inclusive arts sector and risk silencing vital voices that enrich our cultural landscape.
As a sector, we also stand with colleagues to ask the Government to protect artists' rights by ensuring copyright is upheld in the age of AI so that visual artists and all creators can know when and where their copyrighted work is used so that they can be fairly paid for this use, and so that they can be credited in this process. In short, the UK Government must ensure that innovation is ethical and sustainable, enabling everyone to benefit from technology powered by creativity.
These proposals - backed by your colleagues in the All Party Parliamentary Group for Visual Arts & Artists - are essential to sustaining the visual arts ecosystem, which contributes significantly to the identity, prosperity, and well-being of the UK and our local communities.
We urge you to please raise these issues in the house and support the report's recommendations.
Thank you for your time and attention.
With kind regards,