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11.2 am
Judy Mallaber (Amber Valley): I apologise, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but I, too, may need to leave before the end of the debate as I have prearranged meetings with constituents.
I very much welcome this debate on the Government's support for the arts. However, I was disappointed with the speech by the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth). It was a mealy mouthed, sad and desperate contribution to what should really be a subject to celebrate.
My area is a winner when it comes to the arts. As I was preparing for this debate, my local arts officer told me that there has been a cultural change for the better since this Government came to power. The hon. Member for East Surrey said that there was little to applaud in the work of local authorities, but I shall give a number of examples of how the arts have been able to make progress as a result of partnership with my borough, county, town and parish councils. There is much to celebrate in the work of local authorities in my area.
In my constituency, there are no high profile arts venues that hit the national headlines. We do not even have a cinema--and as a film enthusiast that appalling fact is a perpetual source of concern and upset to me. However, it is not good enough to concentrate resources solely on centres of excellence. Amber Valley, and Derbyshire in general, is made up of a mix of small towns and rural areas, so such centres are usually too far away to be accessible by any but the few.
I applaud the commitment made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to open up access to the largest possible number of people. That will not take money away from essential services such as education, health and economic development: rather, it will complement those services. I can do little better than to quote from the arts strategy promoted by my local authority in Amber Valley. It states:
In addition, I recently saw a rap poem on the side of the Ironville railway carriage youth club, painted by the "cool" young people who claim to "rule" their village in the poem. If my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State sets up a poetry website--and if I can remember the words--that will be one of the first pieces that I shall propose. I was also sworn to secrecy recently when I went to the location where an exciting future episode of the medical television series "Peak Practice", which is set in my constituency, was being filmed. Such arts activities have always flourished. In Derbyshire, the summer practice of well dressing has taken place for generations.
We need to foster and encourage the arts. I welcome the reversal of the Tory cuts in Government funding for the arts. Funding for the east midlands arts board will increase this year by 14 per cent., but we have to ensure that our commitment to widening access is constantly reaffirmed. Lottery funding has been totally inadequate, and until recently was grossly skewed away from areas such as mine, where large prestige projects are not set up and where there are no wealthy groups that can find the partnership funding that is needed.
The east midlands and the former coalfield areas have suffered especially badly. In the absence of revenue-funded, dedicated arts buildings, it is very difficult even to enter a bid when the programme is
focused on capital spending. However, since the introduction of the "awards for all" project, which has helped money go to small community groups, we have hit the lottery jackpot. The results may not be dramatic compared with other areas, but in September 18 groups received £70,000 for the first time. That change in the operation of the lottery has certainly helped my area's arts strategy.
The Government's strategy of opening access is vital. I applaud the aim expressed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State this morning of reaching out to the 50 per cent. of the population who never set foot in a theatre, a concert hall, an opera house or an art gallery.
We have none of those things in my area. What we do have--and I hope that, over breakfast this morning, I persuaded my right hon. Friend to come and see for himself--is a wonderful transport heritage. I am delighted that the Government have decided to give £15 million to the 48 designated transport museums. The national tramway museum at Crich was so designated last year. I am also delighted that we got heritage money for the restoration of the two steam locomotives, the Duchess of Sutherland and the Princess Elizabeth, at the Midland railway museum, which is loved by railway buffs. I do not understand it all myself, but all the enthusiasts who go there show how valuable the funding is.
Those are really our only major venues, so we need local sponsorship to take arts out to the community. The work of our local authorities in helping local programmes has been vital. A number of very exciting projects have started to open up access, in accordance with a main theme of our arts strategy.
I have a few examples of how the arts can be taken out into the community. Pause for Applause is a small-scale touring scheme administered by the borough council with help from east midlands arts--which has just received a large increase in its Government funding--to bring professional music, drama, poetry and dance to towns and villages throughout the borough. Pause for Applause puts on a wide variety of public performances, including some specifically for young people, at accessible venues at affordable prices.
We have a programme of concerts for the community to provide part-funding for live music events at festivals, carnivals and carol services. I was delighted that, on the one occasion on which my mother was able to visit the area before, sadly she died, the middle of Ripley was enlivened by shoppers being entertained by the brass band concerts that are sponsored by the town councils at various times through the summer--not every Saturday, unfortunately, but quite frequently.
The Secretary of State talked about a dance programme with young people in Bristol. We are specifically involving young people and people with disabilities. We, too, have dance programmes, in some of our most deprived areas, in conjunction with the Derby dance centre, and are seeking to set up a youth arts forum. I did not realise until yesterday that we have not only the Ironville rappers, but the Ripley Ranters--a group of 11 to 12-year-old girls who are upset that there is no provision for teenagers in Ripley. People come to my surgery and complain about it. The Ripley Ranters are
doing workshops and making a video to tell everyone how fed up they are. They are learning the skills to enable them to campaign for better facilities.
These programmes are about extending access. We cannot focus simply on the big projects; in areas such as mine, we cannot reach out without coming up with imaginative schemes involving local groups.
I want to mention a couple of really exciting projects in my area. The millennium banners project is a partnership between the borough council and the town and parish councils. It is about celebrating the people and places of Amber Valley by constructing textile banners, as the textiles industry is very important in my area. So far, six towns and villages have made triangular banners, with help from the Fleet arts project, and some 800 children and adults are involved. They decide which symbols represent their village. One town has chosen all its local churches; a village has chosen its reservoir, where local people are trying to save their fishing rights; others chose a collage of village children; yet others chose the symbol of Butterley engineering and the old forge from the ironworks. These symbols have been woven into beautiful triangular banners. By December 2000, with the help of a grant from the millennium fund, a whole range of banners will be put on display and then taken back to the towns and villages. The project involves different local groups and, in addition, has stimulated all sorts of other schemes, including literacy projects.
The Collaro project is a creative writing scheme by former employees of the Langley Mill-based munitions factory about their memories of work and play during the second world war. The writing is both funny and moving, and with any luck it could even end up as a television or radio play, although I think that that is some way off.
Some very exciting projects are taking place in my area. We are helped by the changes in lottery funding, the encouragement given by local authorities and the commitment to opening access out to the community.
One has to be enterprising in looking for new ways to fund projects. The Ironville railway carriage, which we seem to have opened at least five times because everyone is so excited by it, is an economic development programme partly funded out of the single regeneration budget and other partnership money. In other cases, the way in which the arts are subsidised is slightly more puzzling. I cannot resist telling hon. Members about the time when I was sat quietly in the Members' Tea Room and a fellow Labour Member came in, sat down, looked at me and did a double take. She asked if she really had just seen me on "Food and Drink" with a roomful of morris men. I had to say yes: the participants in this wonderful traditional English dance require considerable amounts of food and beer to sustain them. An enterprising Ripley morris man was watching television one day and decided that he could subsidise their annual ale feast by getting "Food and Drink" to do it for them. They set it up, but the flaw--what had not clicked--was that the programme is about helping people to cook dishes themselves, so the Ripley morris men were filmed cooking an ale feast for 150 of their colleagues. It was wonderful, but a rather strange way of obtaining subsidy for music and the arts. I welcome the Government's commitment and the provision of funding because I do not want everyone to have to find such strange ways of subsidising the arts.
"Throughout history, musicians, artists, actors and performers have brought colour to our lives. The arts hold up a mirror to ourselves, helping us to understand our complicated world and also providing an escape from it. We experience the arts as spectators and participants, as complete novices, enthusiastic amateurs or as dedicated professionals, as individuals or in a group. In whatever way we enjoy cultural activity it enriches our lives and often brings a sense of well being."
The strategy goes on to describe the benefits that the arts can bring and how the intention is to ensure that no one is excluded from those benefits. It states:
"Our strategy concentrates on access, excellence, regeneration through the arts, collaborative working, better communications and maximising resources. We want to make the Borough a vital and exciting place to live, a place where people can see a professional theatre company in their own village hall and hear live music in parks and market places; a place where professional artists and performers are valued for the contribution they make to our lives; a place where arts play a key role in our cultural, social, economic and personal development; a place where there is a supportive arts infrastructure and opportunities for everyone to stretch their own potential for creativity."
Many projects in my area do just that. It always amazes me how much goes on locally. In recent weeks, I have discovered flourishing organ societies around my area. I have given the vote of thanks to a local choir and to talented local young violinists after a performance in a church. I have listened to barber shop singers at the civic service in Loscoe--although I was less impressed when they played the Cliff Richard record that has caused so much fuss lately. I am afraid that I go along with the musical judgment of those radio programmes that have not been persuaded of the piece's musical value.
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