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Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, speaking at the party’s Culture manifesto launch in Hull, said:
There could be no better place to launch our cultural manifesto,
Labour’s plan to guarantee a ‘Creative Future For All’, than right here in
Hull.
In the last Labour Government our then Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham,
was impressed by how Liverpool had been transformed after being made the
European City of Culture.
So Andy proposed the idea that every four years we should have a UK City
of Culture.
And in 2013, thanks to a brilliant bid from Labour-run Hull City
Council, it was Hull that was chosen.
And what an inspiration you have been as a City of Culture
Hull had hoped to encourage an extra million people to visit Hull during
2017.
A third of a million visited in the first week.
And I’m not surprised. Look at what you’ve offered.
‘Blade’ saw a 200 foot wind turbine blade, made locally at Siemens Green
Port factory go on display in Queen Victoria Square.
The Poppies Weeping Window had 450,000 visits in just two months.
And finally you created the ‘Sea of Hull’ by encouraging 3,000 local
people to strip naked, paint themselves blue and be photographed in the early
hours of Saturday morning.
Those photos by the brilliant photographer, Spencer Tunick, are now on
display in the refurbished Ferens Art Gallery.
So in a very nice way, the people of Hull have literally made an
exhibition of themselves.
I’d like to thank Hull’s Labour council leader Steve Brady for all his
hard work in helping the city deliver for culture, along with Hull 2017’s Chief
Executive Martin Green.
Because we can see what the transformative powers of culture have done
for Hull.
Not just by attracting visitors and creating world class cultural
events. But here in Humber Street, where a former Fruit Market has been
regenerated into a thriving cultural hub, creating new business and new jobs.
The New Humber Street Contemporary Gallery next door has seen 60,000
visits in its first six weeks.
It is estimated that being the UK City of Culture will bring a £60
million economic boost in 2017 alone.
Now Labour wants to replicate what we’ve seen in Hull across the rest of
the UK
And here’s why: Our music industry alone contributes £4 billion to our
economy each year. But every Adele or Stormzy has to start somewhere.
And small venues like Hull’s New Adelphi and larger ones like Fruit give
artists their first break as they learn their craft.
But over the last ten years in London alone 40 per cent of small venues
have closed.
And this Conservative Government has made matters even worse for
artists.
Since 2010 they have slashed £48 million of funding to the Arts Councils
in England, Wales and Scotland.
There is creativity in all of us. Labour’s mission will be to set free
that creativity.
We need to give people the opportunities for this creativity to
flourish.
So today we unveil Labour’s cultural manifesto which sets out a bold and
inspiring policy programme to encourage creativity.
We’re pledging £1 billion to launch a new Cultural Capital Fund to
support our world leading cultural industries savaged by Conservative cuts.
We will end austerity to boost creativity.
It will be amongst the biggest arts infrastructure funds ever
created.
It will boost arts, music, theatre and literature, upgrading our
cultural and creative infrastructure for the digital age, and supporting our
economy.
The fund will also invest in creative clusters across the country based
on a similar model to business enterprise zones.
I don’t want to see just one city benefit from the transformative powers
of culture every four years.
Our Cultural Capital Fund will help many more towns and cities like Hull
benefit all year round.
The fund will be administered by the Arts Council over a five-year
period and help to transform our country’s cultural landscape.
We will also protect and invest in music venues to support grassroots
and professional music ensuring a healthy music industry across the
country.
Labour will review the business rates system to make it fairer to
organisations like music venues extending the £1,000 pub relief to help small
music venues that are suffering from rates rises.
We will also maintain free museums and invest in our heritage sector
which is central to both the identity and economy of local communities across
the country.
Because access to culture is vital for the emotional and intellectual
growth of our people, especially the young.
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.
And under the Conservatives it’s getting worse. Per pupil funding for
schools is going to be cut for the first time in a generation.
It has become so bad that headteachers are sending out begging letters
to parents to make donations to keep the school running.
This is a shameful state of affairs.
So as well as scrapping tuition fees, fully funding our schools and
introducing universal free school meals – something pioneered here in Hull – we
will go further.
Labour will introduce an Arts Pupil Premium that will allow every
primary school child in England the chance to learn an instrument, take part in
drama and dance, and have regular access to a theatre, gallery or museum.
Labour will not only feed our children’s bellies, we will feed their
minds and unleash their creativity.
The Arts Pupil Premium will provide £160 million per year to boost
creative education and ensure arts facilities in state schools match standards
found in many private schools.
We will deliver a creative future for all and culture for the many not
the few.
But we need your help.
If people want to see these transformative changes then they have to be
able to vote.
Those who are not on the register have just over 12 hours to get
registered.
Since the election was called more than two million people have
registered to vote – 40 per cent of them aged between 18 and 24.
If you’re tired of being held back and want to lead a richer life, then
get registered and have your say.
We can stop a Conservative Government that wants to pit the old against
the young.
And replace it with a Labour Government that offers hope and unity.
A government for the many not the few and a government that ensures
culture is for the many not the few
Thank you.
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