Labour will create a £1 billion Cultural Capital Fund to invest in the UK’s cultural infrastructure – across arts, music, film, theatre and culture – as it sets out plans to build on Britain’s status as a world leader in culture and the creative industries.

Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and Shadow Culture Secretary, Tom Watson, will unveil the fund at an event in Hull, the UK’s 2017 City of Culture, on Monday.

Labour’s election manifesto, published last week, included a commitment to create a pupil premium to help children of primary school age fulfil their artistic potential.

Labour announces today that a £1 billion Culture Capital Fund will invest in ‘creative clusters’ across the country.

Labour will guarantee a Creative Future for All by:

* Establishing a £1 billion Cultural Capital Fund to support our world-leading cultural industries, which have been badly hit by Tory cuts.

The fund will be one of the largest arts infrastructure funds ever created. It will give the country’s creative sectors an opportunity to bid for extra funding and help the UK protect its status as a creative and cultural hub in the digital age.

It will protect and invest in live music venues in order to support grassroots and professional music and ensure there is a vibrant music industry in all parts of the country. Labour will review the business rates system and extend the £1,000 pub relief to help small music venues that have been hit by rate rises.

* Ensuring museums and art galleries remain free and invest in our heritage sector, which is central to the identity and economy of local communities across the country.

* Introducing a £160 million arts pupil premium for every primary school in England to boost creative education and ensure state schools have arts facilities of an equivalent standard to those available in many private schools.

Shadow Culture Secretary, Tom Watson, who is a graduate of Hull University, said:

“As a former resident I’m proud to see Hull staging world-class cultural events and that it is attracting tourists from around the world who want to visit the UK City of Culture.

“Labour believes that cities like Hull have demonstrated that creativity can drive inward investment, regeneration and tourism as well as being an important expression of local and regional identity.

“Our thriving creative industries define how we are perceived overseas and make a vital contribution to our economy.

“Under the Tories, the arts and cultural institutions have been forced to absorb huge cuts; under Labour, they will get the investment they deserve.

"Our £1 billion Cultural Capital Fund will give museums, galleries and theatres in all parts of the country access to investment that can be used to upgrade and regenerate their buildings and facilities.”

Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“We want to unleash the potential of every young person not just through education but also through culture. In every one of us there is a poet, a writer, a singer of songs, an artist. But too few of us fulfil our artistic ambition.

“The arts pupil premium will allow every primary school child the chance to learn an instrument, take part in drama and dance and have regular access to a theatre, gallery or museum. Labour will deliver a creative future for all and culture for the many, not the few.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

·         Labour will introduce a £1 billion Cultural Capital Fund to invest in new facilities communities can be proud of and upgrade existing cultural and creative infrastructure for the digital age. The fund will invest in creative clusters across the country, based on a similar model to business enterprise zones.

·         The Cultural Capital Fund will be administered by the Arts Council over a five-year period and help to transform the country’s cultural landscape. This will be funded from Labour’s new National Transformation Fund, announced in the manifesto last week, that will invest £250 billion over 10 years to upgrade our economy.

·         Since 2010 there are now 600 fewer music teachers, 1,200 fewer arts teachers and 1,700 fewer drama teachers in our schools, and teaching hours in arts subjects has fallen by nearly 38,000. New pledges in the Conservatives’ manifesto requiring 90 per cent of pupils to study the EBacc combination of subjects by 2025 could all but wipe out creative education in our schools. Labour will revamp the EBacc and restore the importance of creative education to the curriculum.

·         You can download Labour’s Cultural Manifesto ‘A Creative Future For All” at  www.labour.org.uk/culturemanifesto