Star performer needs a broader stage

The UK’s creative talentis in demand across theworld. Whether it isSlumdog Millionaire or

Harry Potter, a television formatsuch as The X Factor, live cin-ema broadcasts of National The-atre productions or the AppleiPod or iPad (designed by Lon-doner Jonathan Ive), the outputof the country’s writers, artists,directors, designers and crafts-people is widely valued.

Increasingly, it is also seen asa vital component in the coun-try’s economic future. Culturaland creative industries supportnearly 2m jobs and contributed£60bn, or at least 6.2 per cent, togross value added in 2007,according to the most recentofficial figures available – notfar short of financial services on8.3 per cent. The UK has theworld’s largest creative sectoras a share of the economy.

Over the previous 10 years,creative industries grew by anaverage of 5 per cent a yearcompared with 3 per cent for thewhole economy. “All of themhave a considerable role to playin the rebuilding of our econ-omy after the downturn,” saysHelen Alexander, president ofthe CBI employers’ group.

The National Endowment forScience, Technology and theArts (Nesta) predicts that theseindustries will grow by 4 percent a year, double the rest ofthe economy, until 2013. That, itacknowledges, is towards theoptimistic end of projections.

The creative industries, a con-cept adopted by former culture

secretary Chris Smith in 1997,are a disparate group, encom-passing advertising, architec-ture, art and antiques, crafts,design, designer fashion, film,music, visual and performingarts, publishing and softwareincluding computer games.While many parts have emergedfrom recession in decent shape,they face structural and cyclicalchallenges.

The subsidised arts and muse-ums sector is braced for poten-tially large cuts in grants as thenew Conservative-Liberal Demo-crat coalition government grap-ples with a £163bn budget defi-cit. Cuts could have a knock-oneffect on the commercial indus-

tries, which rely on a flow oftalent from the state sector.Spending reductions are also athreat to cities and towns thathave built regeneration strate-gies around theatres, galleriesand “creative quarters”.

International competition isalso intensifying, with countriessuch as China, Brazil, SouthKorea and Singapore puttinginnovation and creativity at thecentre of their economic pro-grammes. The UK has powerfuladvantages such as a rich cul-tural tradition and the globaldominance of the English lan-guage, but it may still find ithard to keep up with these fast-growing economies.

So-called “digital disruption” –the rapid pace of technologicalchange – poses a particularquestion for the UK because itscultural sector is dominated bysmall companies. They can beflexible but often lack thefinance to make a big gamble ona new technology. Film produc-tion companies, for example,must judge whether the currentinterest in 3D is a fad or willtransform their sector.

Other challenges include howto protect intellectual propertyfrom piracy and counterfeiting.There are isues too about howregulation and competition pol-icy should respond to shiftingmarket boundaries, along withthe tax environment, access tofinance and skills provision.

Alan Davey, chief executive ofArts Council England, thegrant-awarding body, says thearts are currently in “reallystrong” health – the result of 15years of sustained investment,starting with the creation of thenational lottery under the Con-servatives and continuing withsteady taxpayer funding underLabour. Regional theatre isthriving, he says, and audiences

Britain’s creativity isnot in doubt, saysBrian Groom. Butmore investment andstructures are neededto support it

Difficult journey into a new dimension: production companies must judge whether 3D movies are a fad or here to stay Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Continued on Page 2

CULTURE& THE UK ECONOMYFINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Wednesday May 26 2010

InsideWill Conservative culturesecretaryJeremyHunt’srelationshipwith the artsworld survivepainfulspendingcuts?Page 3

www.ft.com/uk­culture­2010 | twitter.com/ftreports

Inside this issueEconomy The software andcomputer game sector has seta standard of high growth,writes Brian Groom Page 2

Education David Turneroutlines education institutions’case for ‘Mickey Mouse’creative degrees Page 2

Sponsorship The recession isplaying on stages and ingalleries across the country,says Peter Aspden Page 3

Manchester The 1980sgeneration that led its rebirthis now running the place,writes Andrew Bounds Page 3

Tourism The UK’s culturalheritage (above) gives it ahead start, says Roger BlitzPage 4

2 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY MAY 26 2010

Culture & the UK Economy

Star performer needs a broader stageare being built for difficultareas such as contemporaryclassical music.

The question is what willhappen when the currentthree-year public fundingsettlement expires nextyear. Mr Davey acknowl-edges that if cuts are deep,the council will face hardchoices about which organi-sations to prioritise.

Jeremy Hunt, the newTory culture secretary,makes clear the spendinground will be tough andthat all budgets will have tobe examined, but he alsopromises that culture willnot be unduly targeted.

People in the arts arguethat the budget is too smallto make much difference tothe deficit – state spending

on cultural services is lessthan 1 per cent of totalspending – and that if cutsare severe they wouldundermine the rich culturalmix that has made London,for example, such an attrac-tive place to visit and work.They could make it harderto attract private invest-ment, which has alreadydipped in the recession, asprivate money likes to fol-low success.

Regional cities areequally nervous after a dec-ade of culture-led genera-tion that has created attrac-tions from Newcastle-Gates-head’s Baltic Centre forContemporary Art and Sagemusic venue to Liverpool’s2008 European Capital ofCulture Year, said to havebrought an £800m boost tothe Merseyside economy.

Dermot Finch, chief exec-utive of the Centre for Cit-ies think tank, fears thattoo many places may havejumped on the bandwagonwith projects that are over-dependent on public fundsand do not create manyjobs. “If the public spendingcrisis washes out some ofthe less feasible creativequarters that’s no badthing,” he says. “We wouldcounsel cities to look toother bits of their economythat are larger.”

More collaboration will beneeded between arts organi-sations, whether it is inshared back-office functionsor joint productions. “Thereare a huge number of com-panies putting on danceprogrammes,” says ColinTweedy, chief executive ofArts & Business, which

encourages business fund-ing of the arts. “Can therebe one body which co-ordi-nates all the dance put onin London?”

The vital thing is fororganisations in both thesubsidised and commercialsector to keep on innovat-ing. The National Theatre,now open seven days aweek, played to 93 per centcapacity last year, its high-est attendance in a decade.Now it is reaching out withlive broadcasts into cine-mas – about 50,000 peopleworldwide watched per-formances of Racine’sPhèdre and Alan Bennett’sThe Habit of Art.

Nick Starr, the theatre’sexecutive director, saysthere is no doubt thescreenings will continue.“Digital innovation is not

disruptive or difficult for anarts organisation.” he says.“It’s pure opportunity.”.

The issue is trickier forsectors such as music andfilm. Peter Bazalgette,former creative head ofEndemol, producer of real-ity show Big Brother, pointsalso to a drop in the produc-tion of original televisioncontent.

“We have this excitingdigital world, with all itspossibilities – YouTube andall the other distributionmethods – but the tradi-tional revenue sources arebeing eroded and the newrevenue sources are notemerging half as quickly inthe digital arena,” he says.

There are other chal-lenges. Patrick McKenna,founder of Ingenious Media,a leading media investment

company, says the talentbase of cultural industrieshas been in excellent healthfor some time.

But, he adds: “The indus-try or business side of it hasquite a long way to go. I amquite honestly worriedabout where the UK sits interms of the creative indus-tries generally because wedon’t seem to have the levelof investment in our busi-ness capacity to match thequality of our underlyingcreative talent.”

Mr McKenna says the UKneeds more companies withthe ambition to grow, morecommercially savvy man-agement that can attractinvestment, an investmentcommunity that is moreknowledgeable about thecultural sector and morefunds prepared to invest.

Universitiesdefend ‘MickeyMouse degrees’

When critics fulminateagainst “Mickey Mousedegrees” they are, mostlikely, thinking of under-graduate courses in the cre-ative and cultural sector.

However, those who offersuch degrees make a robustdefence of their economicvalue to society.

Defending BedfordshireUniversity’s courses inComputer Games Develop-ment and similar subjects,vice-chancellor Les Ebdonsays that some older sub-jects such as history are“riskier these days” foryoung people in search of agood job after graduation.Prof Ebdon is also chair ofMillion+, the pressuregroup for modern universi-ties, many of which have astrong presence in thesesubjects.

However, the creative andcultural sector’s defence isrobust rather than united.Prof Ebdon notes, acidly:“You can do a degree inMedia Studies and all youdo is sit around studyingold French films. And thenyou’re difficult to employ.”

The statistics actuallysuggest that all three sub-ject areas – ComputerGames, Media Studies andHistory – are “risky”. Forstudents finishing coursesin 2007-8, the average unem-ployment rate a few monthsafter graduating was 6.4 percent, according to theHigher Education StatisticsAgency. For Historical andPhilosophical Studies it wasmore than a percentagepoint higher at 7.6 per cent.Creative Arts and Designwas higher still, at 8.3 percent, but Mass Communica-tions and Documentation,which includes Media Stud-ies and Journalism, toppedthem both at 8.8 per cent.

Does it follow, then, thatthere are too many studentsdoing creative and culturalcourses? Caroline Felton,acting chief executive ofCreative and CulturalSkills, a government-fundedagency, says: “We are avery graduate-heavy set ofindustries. In many wayswe have more graduatesthan demand for theirwork.”

Putting the case fordegrees in fields such ascomputer games, ProfEbdon points to theirstrong contribution toexports and jobs.

Prof Ebdon argues thatthe style of British educa-tion gives it an inherentadvantage over other coun-tries when it comes to thecreative industries. “Why isit that the UK is worldleader in the creative indus-tries? Because of the waywe teach in this country –through discovery.” ProfEbdon illustrates the pointby telling the story of avisit to China where he wasshown “an old munitionsfactory on the edge of Bei-jing” which the authoritieshad tried to turned into a“creative hub”. Prof Ebdoncriticises the uncreativeconcept behind this: “Theysaid, we have tried to makethis as much like Tate Mod-ern as possible, and Ithought, you haven’t gotthis at all.”

Media Studies, too, has itsdefenders. Joost Van Loon,

head of communications,culture and media studiesat Nottingham Trent Uni-versity, eagerly fights backagainst brickbats from bothacademia and business.

Prof Van Loon, who saysthe most common job formedia studies graduates isas a press officer, uses awarfare analogy to press hiscase for the discipline.

According to the famousquote by Marshall McLu-han, the Canadian academicand early pioneer of mediastudies, “Vietnam was lostin the living rooms ofAmerica – not on the battle-fields of Vietnam.”

Prof Van Loon adds:“Even if you have a mediastrategy, there’s no guaran-tee you’ll win [the war]. Butwithout it you’re guaran-teed to lose it.”

Some scholars have evencited the US interventionsin Vietnam and Somalia ascases where wars were lostbecause of media percep-tions, despite overall mili-tary success.

But Stephen Alambritis ofthe Federation of SmallBusinesses retains the com-mon view among businessleaders that what employ-ers need most is more sci-ence graduates. Given thatthe number of places ineach subject at university isbased most of all on howmany young people want tostudy the subject, he wor-ries that “fashionable” crea-tive and cultural degreesmay be squeezing out sci-ence subjects.

Mr Alambritis praises thedecision by government touse funding to preserve alist of Strategically Impor-tant and Vulnerable sub-jects, including science andmodern foreign languages,and calls for continuing

“readjustment” of the fund-ing system to protect thesefields.

Ms Felton of Creative andCultural Skills emphasisesthe value of degrees in thissector, but argues thatmany courses should berevamped to give peoplemore practical skills. Shenotes that some people whodo a course in JewelleryDesign can design but notactually make jewellery. MsFelton argues that a broadrange of skills for eachgraduate is necessary in asector where a high propor-tion of people run their ownbusinesses. She even arguesthat undergraduates in thesector should be taughthow to write their ownbusiness plans and evenlearn basic accountancy.

One defender of creativeand cultural degrees arguesthat the pejorative use ofthe term “Mickey Mousedegree” is singularly inapt,as the renowned rodentmade Walt Disney millionsof dollars.

Wallace and Gromit – thequintessentially Englishequivalents – were so suc-cessful as export earnersthat models of them used tograce the office of the lateRobin Cook when he wasforeign secretary. NickPark, the English animatorwho invented them, studiedCommunication Arts atSheffield Polytechnic.

‘You can do adegree in MediaStudies and all youdo is sit aroundstudying oldFrench films’

EducationDavid Turner looksat the contributionmade by thecriticised courses

Computergames setstandard ofhigh growth

What lies behind theUK’s competitiveadvantage in culturalindustries? A long

history of artistic creativity, cou-pled with the dominance of Eng-lish as the language of businessand the internet, partly explain it.Other factors often cited include atraditional emphasis on creativeand design disciplines in highereducation, an ethnically diversepopulation, a strong intellectualproperty regime and investmentin institutions such as the BBCand Tate Galleries.

The result is a sector that hasgrown at above-average rates overthe past decade but which has atendency towards boom and bust,as shown by the dotcom boom.There was anxiety, therefore, thatthe creative industries might suf-fer more than other parts of theeconomy in the recent recession.

Official statistics are slow tocatch up but Hasan Bakhshi, sen-ior policy analyst at the NationalEndowment for Science, Technol-ogy and the Arts (Nesta), citesindustry figures showing strongsales of video games last year; arise in cinema admissions; an 11per cent increase in visits tomuseums, galleries and otherattractions; record ticket sales atLondon West End theatres; andhealthy revenues from live music.

Business-facing sectors such asdesign, advertising, media andarchitecture have had a toughertime but the 13 sectors that makeup the creative industries deliv-ered average growth of 5 per centa year in 1997-2007, higher thanthe 3 per cent average for thewhole economy, according to the

Department for Culture, Mediaand Sport. They accounted for 6.2per cent of gross value added(GVA) in 2007. the last year forwhich official figures are pro-vided, excluding crafts anddesign, for which no comparablefigures are available.

The UK’s creative sector isthought to be the world’s largestrelative to the size of the econ-omy. It employs 1.1m people, witha further 800,000 employed in cre-ative jobs in businesses outsidethese sectors. Jobs have grown by2 per cent a year over 10 years,double the whole economy’s rate.Exports totalled £16.6bn in 2007,or 4.5 per cent of all goods andservices exported.

The biggest grouping was soft-ware, computer games and elec-tronic publishing, whichaccounted for 2.9 per cent of GVAand also had the highest annualgrowth rate at 9 per cent. Publish-ing accounted for 1 per cent ofGVA; advertising and architec-ture 0.6 per cent each; music andthe visual and performing arts 0.4per cent; video, film and photogra-phy 0.3 per cent; and radio andtelevision 0.2 per cent.

Nesta is sticking to its forecast,made early last year, that the cre-ative industries would grow at anaverage of 4 per cent a year in thefive years to 2013, double the pro-jected rate for the wider economy.

Others are more sceptical,pointing to the intense challengesome of these industries faceeither from international competi-tion or the blistering pace of dig-ital change. Peter Bazalgette,former creative head of Endemol,producer of television realityshow Big Brother, says: “If youstick your content in a digitalarea – assuming it’s not ripped offor pirated – whether you are inthe music business or the TVbusiness you will find you getsmaller revenues.”

Mr Bakhshi says demand forthe products of these industries ishealthy, with households spend-

ing more on cultural and creativegoods and services. But all agreethat challenges must be met if thesector is to fulfil its potential.

Ed Shedd, head of media atDeloitte, the professional servicesfirm, says: “The UK has a bril-liant position in intellectual prop-erty generation, be it TV produc-tion or games production, and

exporting that to the rest of theworld – and that’s building on ahistory in the book publishingworld.”

According to Deloitte’sresearch, the film, DVD andmusic markets shrank by 7 percent between 2005 and 2008, whileinternet and games software com-

panies grew by about 30 per cent.Elaine Thomas, vice-chancellor

of the University of the CreativeArts, based in Kent and Surrey,agrees that the creative industriesseem to be in a reasonably goodposition. “At the moment applica-tions for fashion courses aregoing through the roof – and stu-dents are getting placements andgetting employment opportuni-ties,” she says.

Like others in education, shefears spending cuts will dispropor-tionately hit arts courses in aneffort to protect science, engineer-ing, technology and maths – afalse distinction, she argues, asdesign in particular plays animportant role in industry.

Whatever the health of the crea-tive sector overall, some partshave specific problems – even theotherwise buoyant computergames industry, which contrib-utes about £1bn a year to theeconomy and employs 27,000.

It has complained for severalyears about a “brain drain” tocountries such as Canada that

have been poaching talenteddevelopers with lucrative taxincentives, leading the UK to slipfrom third to fifth place in theglobal games development rank-ings. Tiga, the industry associa-tion, hopes the Con-Lib coalitionwill take forward the tax reliefpromised by Alistair Darling, theformer chancellor, in his MarchBudget.

Although the brain drain is aproblem, especially for largercompanies, technological changeis opening up new opportunitiesfor small, innovative developers.

The rise of distribution plat-forms such as Apple’s iTunesallows developers to sell gamesdirect to customers, earning 70per cent of the revenues ratherthan 10 per cent from blockbustergames marketed in shops by glo-bal publishing companies.

It is an example of how fast thetechnology and business modelsin the creative sector are chang-ing – and how suddenly they canthrow open new economic oppor-tunities.

EconomyEducation funding andtax treatment remaincrucial for the sector,says Brian Groom

Competitive industry: tax incentives have led to a brain drain of computer games talent from the UK Dreamstime

‘Applications for fashioncourses are goingthrough the roof – andstudents are gettingemployment’

ContributorsBrian GroomBusiness & EmploymentEditor

David TurnerEducation Correspondent

Bob SherwoodLondon & South­EastCorrespondent

Peter AspdenArts Correspondent

Andrew BoundsNorth­East Correspondent

Roger BlitzLeisure Industries Editor

Seb Morton­ClarkCommissioning Editor

Steven BirdDesigner

Andy MearsPicture Editor

For advertising, contact:Sarah Keith+44 020 7873 3180Sarah.Keith@ft.com

Continued from Page 1

‘Digital innovation isnot disruptive ordifficult for an artsorganisation. It’spure opportunity’

Nick Starr,National Theatre

London Strategy aims to capitalise on a home­grown pool of talentFrom the bright lights of West End theatresto the film and media cluster in Soho,London is the creative and cultural capital ofEurope. The cultural offerings of world­classtheatre, museums, music, and performingarts are one of the biggest draws forinternational tourists, helping to makeLondon the most visited city in the world.

But the creative sector stretches farbeyond cultural attractions and hasflourished to become one of the mostimportant parts of the London economy.

The creative and media industries in thecapital contribute £21bn to the Londoneconomy each year, contributing a sixth ofthe city’s gross value added, a measure ofeconomic performance. The sector is thesecond largest industry in London afterfinancial and business services.

Almost one­third of all creativeindustry jobs in the UK are located inLondon, with a total creative workforce –encompassing creative workers and thosein the broader creative industriessector – approaching 800,000people. More than one in five newjobs in London are in the creativeindustries.

“The creative sector isincredibly important to London’seconomy in a number ofdifferent ways,” says MuniraMirza, director of arts andculture policy for BorisJohnson, mayor of London.Mr Johnson is about tolaunch a new culturalstrategy for the capital

aimed at maintaining and strengtheningLondon’s position as a world city for culture.

The strategy says: “London’s culturalenvironment has become a significant factorin its competitive advantage.”

Some parts of the sector are obviouslyvisible. In spite of the recession, London’stheatres have broken all attendance recordsthis year. The arts and cultural sector isworth between an estimated £29.5bn and£34bn annually.

London Fashion Week generates morethan £140m a year for the London economyand highlights the capital’s role as one ofthe big four fashion centres alongside Milan,Paris and New York.

The film production and distributionsectors are heavily concentrated in London

and the south­east of England, with aneconomic value of about £4.6bn. Many bigrecord labels are also based in London,including Universal Music Group, Sony MusicGroup, EMI and Warner Music Group.

London is a publishing hub and globalbroadcast base with favourable regulationthat in 2003 scrapped rules barring non­European companies owning the UK’stelevision and radio businesses, making theUK TV and radio market one of the mostliberal in the world.

Some commentators recently called forgreater support to creative industries sayingthe sector would become more important asLondon’s financial and business servicessector suffered from the global downturn.

But that was to miss the point that muchof London’s creative sector is criticallyinterlinked with the financial sector as wellas technology­based industries. London

dominates the European advertisingagency sector, for example, with theEuropean headquarters of two­thirds ofthe international agencies.

Inevitably some parts of thesector have suffered in the

recession, from architecture firmshit by weakness in propertymarkets to advertising andmedia agencies that relied onfinancial services.

London is also home to morethan half of the UK computer

games and leisure software industry, and abase for some of the world’s largest gamespublishers such as Sony, Activision, Eidosand Electronic Arts. The growth of thesoftware industry is just one example of theways that innovation in digital technologiesis having a revolutionary impact on thecultural and creative industries, changing theway that creative goods and services areproduced, distributed and consumed.

Michael Charlton, chief executive of ThinkLondon, the foreign direct investmentagency, points to the acceleratingconvergence of creative, design andtechnology industries as the most significantfactor in London’s competitive advantage inthe sector. Another critical factor is the widepool of creative talent spawned by respectedcolleges such as the Royal College of Art,Goldsmiths and Central St Martins.

Mr Charlton says that the health ofLondon’s creative industries has maintaineda strong pipeline of interest from overseascompanies seeking to set up a base in thecapital either to join the creative hub or tocapitalise on the design capability. Forexample, Crystal Digital Technology, one ofthe largest computer graphics companies inChina, recently set up its Europeanheadquarters in London, while Think Londonis working with a Chinese white­goodsmanufacturer that is looking at using Londonas its design base.

“It’s not just the strength of the creativeindustries,” says Mr Charlton. “It’s a newdynamism which puts London at the cuttingedge of creativity and innovation.”

Bob Sherwood

More than a follower of fashion:Fashion Week generates £140m

a year for London Getty Images

FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY MAY 26 2010 ★ 3

Culture & the UK Economy

Effect of recession is playing on stages and in galleries

It was one of the leading cul-tural success stories of the pastdecade: how arts institutionsmanaged to tap into privatesponsorship, enabling them tothrive as never before.

High-profile sponsorshipschemes became a part of theUK’s arts landscape: Unilever’ssupport of the Tate Modern’sTurbine Hall installationsyielded some of the most impos-ing contemporary art works thecountry has seen, loved by mil-lions of visitors.

Travelex’s pioneering projectto provide thousands of £10 tick-ets to see top-class productionsat London’s National Theatre

became the capital’s greatestcultural bargain, resulting infull houses and a new, youngeraudience.

Between 2003 and 2008 privateinvestment in the arts – as busi-ness support, private donations,trusts and foundations – rosefrom £454m to a record £687m.

But as the effects of recessionmade themselves felt, arts spon-sorship inevitably dropped.Investment was down by 7 percent in 2008-9, to £655m.

Now, in a tougher financialclimate, arts institutions arebracing themselves for worse.

The UK’s mixed fundingmodel for the arts has for yearsbeen the envy of the world. Itmarks a compromise betweenthe US approach, which reliesheavily on private money, andthe heavily state-subsidisedEuropean cultural sector.

Many US institutions havegone under following the onsetof the recession, while European

arts centres have been unable toact quickly or flexibly as aresult of their dependence ongovernment funds.

But Colin Tweedy, chief exec-utive of Arts & Business, a char-ity that acts as a mediatorbetween the two sectors, saysprivate and public money areinexorably linked, emphasisingthat any cuts to the publicpurse will have a detrimentalknock-on effect on privateinvestment in the UK.

One consequence of the hardtimes is that businesses arefocusing more closely on theperceived return on investment.

Arts sponsorship was previ-ously regarded as a perk of busi-ness life: a chance to entertainclients with free seats andchampagne at the opera.

But it is being more finely tar-geted today. For example, theinternational flavour of Lon-don’s cultural life means somecompanies can use cultural

links to support their businessinterests in emerging markets.

HSBC, which promotes itselfas the bank that best appreci-ates the world’s diversity, issponsoring this summer’s Brazilfestival on the South Bank. Ithas previously supported exhibi-tions at the Victoria & Albert

Museum on Chinese design, andat the British Museum onIndian paintings.

Nigeria’s Guaranty TrustBank became the first Africancorporation to support art inBritain when it sponsored theTate Britain exhibition of paint-ings by Chris Ofili, an artist ofNigerian heritage. It is also

sponsoring the installation atTrafalgar Square’s FourthPlinth by the British-Nigerianartist Yinka Shonibare.

In the meantime, arts institu-tions are also having to becomemore creative in theirapproaches to potential donors.The Royal Opera House hasincreased the value of individ-ual donations from £6.7m in 2001to just short of £20m last yearby making donors feel moreclosely involved with eventsbackstage.

Tony Hall, chief executive,says individual philanthropywas the biggest growth area forrevenue-raising, but insists pri-vate money cannot make up forpublic funding cuts. “[Donors]don’t want to fill in a gap – theywant to put money into thingsthat are successful, not intoproblems. Anyone who hasfund-raised knows that,” he saidin an FT interview last year.

Other companies have also

become more entrepreneurial, atrend bound to be encouragedby the new government. EnglishNational Opera has increasedthe number of artistic collabora-tions with overseas companies,most notably New York’s Metro-politan Opera, to spread thecosts of new productions.

Alan Davey, chief executive ofArts Council England, says it isimportant to think of privateinvestment as an instrumentalgood for culture. “I see us as aventure capital fund for the cre-ative economy, using our learn-ing, our experience and our net-works to build longer-lastingpartnerships with the commer-cial and voluntary sectors,” hesaid in a speech. “Our invest-ment is one of the reasons theUK is the largest cultural goodsexporter.”

But despite the best efforts ofarts institutions, there seems lit-tle doubt there are hard timesahead. Mr Tweedy says it is

“inconceivable” that the artsbudget would escape cuts in aworld that is considering cuts ineducation and health.

“Generally sponsorship hasheld up pretty well but of courseit is getting more difficult forfund-raisers – they are finding alot of people who just aren’treturning their calls,” he says.

Business sponsorship is boundto be affected by confidence, headds. “Wealthy individuals willcontinue to give, but it will bemore difficult for companies. Assoon as you tie something to thecorporate masthead, you arevery exposed.”

Mr Tweedy says it is impor-tant to create a “big push” toemphasise the national impor-tance of the arts – “somethingon the scale of Comic Relief.Everyone wants to engage withthe arts, and it is one of ourgreatest success stories.

“We can’t allow it to fall atthe mercy of the markets.”

SponsorshipPeter Aspden looks atthe future for fundingand sees hard times

‘Sponsorshiphas held up wellbut it is gettingmore difficultfor fund­raisers’

Colin Tweedy

Funds issuehangs overrebirth plans

Julia Fawcett can stillremember the day the dockgates closed for the finaltime on Salford Quays. Itwas the mid-1980s and shewas at school. Some 20years later she was backhome, running the Lowry,an arts centre built on thequayside to give the place areason to keep going.

“There is such a contrastbetween then and now. Thedocks employ more peoplethan they did then. TheLowry has acted as a cata-lyst for the redevelopmentof this area. More than£700m in private invest-ment has come in. But thepublic sector needs to takethe first step.”

It is a familiar story.There scarcely seems atown or city in the countrythat has not invested in gal-leries, theatres and a “crea-tive quarter” in recentyears. Glasgow began the

trend. Its shipyards sinking,it bid successfully to beEuropean capital of culturein 1990. “Glasgow’s Milesbetter”, ran the 1980s slo-gan, and the city reinventeditself as a gritty but hip des-tination. There is moreshopping than shipbuildingnow and the Clyde water-front is dominated not bycranes but SECC, a concerthall dubbed the armadillofor its distinctive shape.Other cities followed suit:the Baltic in an old flourmill in Gateshead, the TateModern in a power stationin London that helpedtransform unfashionableBankside.

Cardiff has its shiny Mil-lennium Centre on the bay,Leeds the canalside RoyalArmouries. Leicester in2008 opened the Curve, a£61m performing arts centreat the heart of its new cul-tural quarter.

Glasgow city council isnow looking for £5m to sup-port lottery money to buildthe Riverside museum,which would replace the oldtransport one. Old indus-tries recycled into the herit-age industry. Some mightobserve that they at leastdevour less public subsidy.

Now, like many others,Glasgow is “living on thinair”, to quote Charles Lead-beater, innovation guru andfellow at the Said BusinessSchool in Oxford. The ques-tion is whether that cancontinue in an age of aus-terity when land valueshave dropped – no barteringwith developers for primeslots – and public sectorsubsidy is set to be cut.

Andy Burnham, culturesecretary under GordonBrown’s premiership, says

the lessons of Glasgow werelost on the Conservatives,who cut arts spending inthe 1990s recession and lostyears of momentum.

Liverpool can only hopethe same will not happenthis time. Another port thatrevived itself through cul-ture, its year as EuropeanCapital of Culture in 2008was regarded as the bestever by Brussels. It wasalso the year the city’s pop-ulation stopped shrinkingfor the first time since thesecond world war.

Merseyside and the north-west reaped £754m in extravisitor spending in 2008,with almost 10m additionalvisitors to Liverpool, a riseof one-third, according toan assessment by BeatrizGarcia, a Liverpool Univer-sity academic. Hotels wereeven busier in 2009.

Ms Garcia says Liverpoollearned from Glasgow’smistakes. Culture was wid-ened beyond the highbrow.Of the £130m budget, £22.3mcame from sponsorship and£4.1m income earned, agreater proportion thanusual.

The government took upthe idea of a UK capital ofculture programme formu-lated by Phil Redmond, thetelevision producer whowas creative director of the2008 programme; 22 citiesfrom Aberdeen to South-ampton have been compet-ing for the 2013 crown.

How they will fund it isan awkward question.Lowry chief executive MsFawcett admits that thenext few years will be astruggle. But she alsobelieves that the Lowryshows what can be done. Itrelies on grants for 7 percent of its running costs,against a typical average of12 per cent.

It receives, every year,£1m from the Arts Counciland £1m from Salford coun-cil, figures unchanged sinceit opened. “The challengefor the Lowry was to createa mixed economic modelthat had much greater reli-ance on self-funding. So farwe have done it,” she says.

The £15m budget hasbeen balanced by a 10 percent cut in costs over thepast two years, with nocompulsory redundancies.Audience figures are up.Corporate sponsorship hasfallen by half to £250,000 ayear. So people buying tick-ets are invited to donate anextra £1 – one in four do.

But the big success hasbeen its inhouse ticketagency. Unlike many ven-ues the Lowry decided notto outsource ticket sales.But Ms Fawcett wanted tocover the £300,000 cost ofrunning the service. Theanswer? Sell other people’s.Quay Tickets services 70venues and made a £300,000profit last year. It is aimingfor £500,000 in 2011.

Ms Fawcett’s private sec-tor experience – 10 years atGranada Leisure – has beeninvaluable. “If you have anasset that is costing moneyyou try to recoup some. Weare not driven by profit. Butwe have applied the disci-pline and rigour of a pri-vate-sector organisation.We are as close to a self-funding arts organisation asyou can get.”

As the cuts bite theLowry – and many others –may have to get even closerto that ideal.

RegenerationOne arts chief isshowing how to getby with less grantmoney, reportsAndrew Bounds

Liverpool’s year asEuropean Capital ofCulture in 2008was regarded asthe best ever byBrussels

Manchester The 1980s generation was not so mad after all – it is running the place now

“Madchester” was not so crazyafter all. The music and nightclubscene that put the city on theglobal map in the late 1980sbankrupted its creator, theHacienda club. But it stimulated acreative and cultural renaissancethat has brought in billions ofpounds of business.

The city, two hours north ofLondon by train, is now thedominant creative hub in the UKoutside the south­east, accordingto a study last year by theNational Endowment for Science,Technology and the Arts (Nesta).Quite an achievement for a citythat suffered crippling de­industrialisation in the 1970s and80s, leaving worklessness, povertyand low ambition entrenched inmany communities.

In a range of sectors includingtelevision, software, advertisingand radio, GreaterManchester hasmore creativebusinesses than allother northern cities together.

While the city of 3.2m has 3 percent of the UK’s businesses, it has7 per cent of advertisingcompanies, 6 per cent of radioand television companies, 4per cent of software andvideo games companiesand 4 per cent ofarchitecture

practices. Together with legal andprofessional services, these sectorsprovide 6 per cent of its jobs.

It also has a pull. Theuniversities remain among themost popular in the country. Manystudents get hooked on the placeand stay. Tom Bloxham, whofounded property company UrbanSplash and became an arts patronand chairman of Arts CouncilNorth West, started out by sellingposters. Colin Sinclair beganmanaging bands, then set up asuccessful club and until recentlywas running the city’s inwardinvestment agency.

The “Madchester”generation has

taken

over thecity. Peter Saville, who

designed record covers for NewOrder, came up with its “Original

Modern City” slogan.But Charles Leadbeater, the

innovation guru and author of theNesta report, says too little ofManchester’s cultural economycompetes on a global scale.

“Where Manchester has avid anddemanding consumers – footballand popular music – it hasproduced great products,” hewrote. “[On some counts]Manchester is still too parochial.Today, Manchester’s firms are lessinternationally connected thanthose in comparable city regions.”

Manchester is pushing into newareas. Typical of Mancunianboldness is the creation of theManchester International Festivaltwo years ago. Many scoffed whenthe council suggested creating abiennial to rival Venice or Vienna.

But it lured a big name, AlexPoots, from English National Operain London. And it had a big idea:that all work should be original. In2009, the second MIF, RufusWainwright arrived with his firstopera, which had been turneddown elsewhere. It was a hit and

transferred to New York.In a classicMancunian touchmixing the

highbrow and thepopular, Elbow, the

rock band that recently wonBritain’s Mercury Music Prize,

performed hits with the city’sresident Halle Orchestra. GuyGarvey, lead singer, attended theHalle as a boy, drawing as muchinspiration from it as from theSmiths or Stone Roses.

The 2009 MIF attracted morethan 230,000 visitors, 1,300 fromabroad, beating the 210,000 target,recruited more than 300volunteers and attracted localparticipation.

The overall economic impact ofthe festival was worth £35.7m, upfrom 2007’s £28.8m.

More than a third of the 09Festival programme was free and89 per cent of tickets sold, upfrom 78 per cent in 2007.

As important, there was presscoverage around the world. TheNew York Times said: “Summerfestivals often define predictability.Britain’s Manchester InternationalFestival upsets the status quo byexclusively staging original work –and only letting in the very coolestof cool kids.”

It is a zeitgeist that Midas, theinward investment agency MrSinclair ran before he moved to aproperty company, is trying to tapinto. Tim Newns, deputy chiefexecutive of Midas, says:“Creativity and Manchester havebeen twinned since the 18thcentury and that restless need toinnovate and challenge convention

is still driving the city’s world classcreative, digital and new mediasectors.“

Links between business and thearts are growing ever stronger. Atthe forefront is Umbro, thesportswear brand now owned byNike and based in Stockport.

Umbro’s new England footballaway shirt was launched not in asports store but on stage in Parisby rock band Kasabian in February.

It has began giving a £10,000grant every quarter to artsorganisations in the north­west. “Itmakes Umbro a patron ofculture...almost philanthropic,” saysSteve Smith, of Ear to the Ground,an events­based communicationsagency involved in the shirt launch.

“It is about badging, givingpeople an experience they cannotget elsewhere. You are creatingcultural content. The UK isdefinitely leading the field in thisarea,” says Mr Smith, anotherstudent who stayed in town.

As Mr Leadbeater wrote: “IfManchester can address bigchallenges of education, welfare,sustainability, digital media, withmaverick thinking... matched topractical action, then it has achance to be again a city to whichthe rest of the world turns for alead.”

Andrew Bounds

The shadow of the axe looms

Jeremy Hunt, the newConservative culturesecretary, and EdVaizey, his junior

minister, have set out tocharm the arts world forthe past three years – withsome success. Now comesthe big test. Will this pain-stakingly built relationshipsurvive what seems likelyto be a painful round ofpublic spending cuts?

In his first speech aftertaking up his post, Mr Huntdid little to disguise thetough times to come. “As Ilook at the public spendinground that lies ahead I dofeel a bit of ‘uneasy lies thehead that wears the crown’– what Henry IV said whenhe had insomnia and what Irather feel when I considerthe responsibilitiesinvolved,” he said.

For investment in artsand culture made by thegovernment “we get a ter-rific bang for our buck”, headded, but all budgets –large and small – weregoing to have to be exam-ined. He pledged, however,that culture would not besingled out as a soft target,and insisted that cuts inadministration andbureaucracy would alwaysbe considered ahead of deci-sions that could affect crea-tive output.

He wants all grant-givingorganisations to reducetheir administration coststo 5 per cent of the budgetsthey distribute. Arts Coun-cil England, for example,spends 6.6 per cent.

Mr Hunt says he willplace an order before parliament in September that willimplement the Tories’ man-ifesto pledge to restore theshare of National Lotterymoney going to the arts,heritage and sport to theoriginal 20 per cent each.That could mean each ofthem receiving an extra£50m a year.

He says three principleswill underpin future policy:a mixed economy of publicand private support for the

arts, with stronger incen-tives to promote philan-thropy; access to high-qual-ity arts for as many peopleas possible, through contin-ued free admission tonational museums and gal-leries and continued educa-tion programmes; and areaffirmation of the arm’slength principle, with nopoliticisation of fundingdecisions.

He says he wants to makeprivate giving to arts andculture easier by reforminggift aid and building on theacceptance-in-lieu schemeto make it possible fordonors to give works of artto the nation during theirlifetimes. He also aims toreward high-performing

arts organisations throughlonger-term funding deals,reassuring sponsors anddonors that their supportwould complement publicinvestment. “I am totallypassionate about the artsand culture in this coun-try,” Mr Hunt said.

Before the election, hesuggested that the artscould receive substantiallymore funding at the end ofthe five-year parliamentthan at present, through acombination of the extralottery funds and endow-ments.

Arts executives are cau-tious, pointing out thatendowments take a longtime to build up. “The prob-lem I see is that people like

to fund something withtheir name on or with animmediate return,” saysAlan Davey, chief executiveof Arts Council England.

Many in the arts worldare wary, remembering theThatcher years. In 1979 theincoming arts minister,Norman St John Stevas,was a culture enthusiastwho said there would be“no candle-end economiesin the arts”. But the resultwas progressive cuts and amutually hostile climate.

Mr Hunt, who made hisfortune in educational pub-lishing, hopes to show thatthe attitude is different thistime. He impressed manywith his personal commit-ment, voicing enthusiasm

PoliticsBrian Groom looksat the likelihood ofpainful cuts

for things from the poetryof Osip Mandelstam to mod-ern plays by David Hareand Jez Butterworth. Hesays he has loved classicalmusic all his life and wantsevery child to have thechance to play an instru-ment.

Nick Starr, executivedirector of the NationalTheatre, says there is an“air of realism abroad”about the tougher publicspending climate ahead.The arts world will, though,make its case that big cutsto the small arts budget –cultural services altogetheraccount for less than 1 percent of state spending –would have a seriousimpact.

“London is a major cap-ital city, a major

earner of wealth.You need majorcultural institu-tions, you needit to be a placepeople wantto work,”says PeterBazalgette,d e p u t ychairman of

E n g l i s hN a t i o n a l

Opera.Patrick McK-

enna, founder ofIngenious Mediaand chairman ofLondon’s YoungVic Theatre, says:“It would sendentirely the

wrong message interms of the newgovernment’s ambi-tions for the creative

industries if it started cut-ting back on our arts sec-tor.”

There is concern, too,about the potential impacton arts spending in theregions. Regional theatre,for example, now dependson a large number of tour-ing and co-productions, soremoving funding from acompany in one city couldhave effects elsewhere.

Mr Davey makes clearthat Arts Council Englandwill face tough choicesabout which organisationsto fund if cuts are deep. Itmay be preferable, forinstance, to fund one artgallery properly atanother’s expense, insteadof leaving two half-closed.

Early pledge: culture secretary Jeremy Hunt says cultural attractions will not be singled out for cuts Alamy/Getty Images

‘London is a majorcapital city . . . youneed major culturalinstitutions,you need it to bea place peoplewant to work’

Leap offaith: theinternationalfestival lastyear was asuccess

4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES WEDNESDAY MAY 26 2010

Culture & the UK Economy

Glasgow A year is a short time in the transformation of a cityTourism is now one ofGlasgow’s biggest industries,ranking in employmentterms alongside financialservices, health and theretail sector.

The city attracts nearly3m visitors a year,generating more than£700m for the localeconomy.

Civic leaders admit that25 years ago that wouldhave been unimaginable.Much of the transformationof the image of Scotland’sbiggest city, world famousas a centre of shipbuildingand heavy engineering, canbe attributed to itsbecoming the first place inBritain to be namedEuropean City of Culture in1990.

Glasgow City Councilclaims it is the first Britishcity where the arts wereused as a catalyst for urbanrenewal – “a revolutionarymodel which has since beenreplicated worldwide”.

“The positive economicrepercussions of thissuccessful policy have beenhuge and are still being feltwell into the newmillennium,” says thecouncil.

Achieving City of Culturestatus – the name waschanged to “Capital” in 1999– was just one of Glasgow’sinitiatives to change itsnegative image as a dirty,dangerous place blighted bygangs and football violence.

“Not only did this lowerthe morale of its citizens,but it greatly hamperedefforts to generate a touristindustry, to make Glasgow avisitor centre, and to attractdispersed businesses andinwards investment,” saysthe council.

But one lesson thatGlasgow has learned isthat transforming a city’simage can never beachieved by a singleevent – no matter how

successful. It is a processthat requires continualapplication and investment.

The attempt to improveGlasgow’s modern imagecan be traced back to 1983,when the city launched its“Glasgow’s Miles Better”campaign. The same yearalso saw the opening of agallery to display themagnificent BurrellCollection which had beenleft to the city by a wealthyship owner. Five years laterthe Glasgow Garden Festival,held on the south bank ofthe Clyde, further changedperceptions of the city.

However, Mark O’Neill,head of research anddevelopment at Culture andSport Glasgow, is in nodoubt about the significanceof winning the City ofCulture title.

“For us, it redefined us asa cultural tourism city,” hesays. “When Glasgowopened the Burrell in 1983,people laughed at the ideaof visitors coming toGlasgow.”

Mr O’Neill says “the singlegreatest lesson” Glasgowlearned is that you only getreal value from the year ifthere is a long­termstrategy.

“The five years after theyear of culture have to bethe focus of the plan,” hesays. “By the time you havewon it, you are tryingto delivermassiveprogram

mes, people get veryfocused on the short term –which is inevitable when youare trying to deliver a bigproject. So unless there arethings in place about thefollow­through, you can losea lot of the value.”

Charles Bell, arts managerat Culture and SportGlasgow, also believes thatthe most important thingabout Glasgow’s experienceas a City of Culture is that ithas been sustained oversubsequent years.

“There was deliberatechoice made in 1990 thatthere would be a phasedimplementation of otherevents during the 1990s, sowe had the Year of VisualArts in 1996 and the Year ofArchitecture and Design in1999 – and a number ofdifferent initiatives to ensurethat momentum did not fallaway,” he says.

But Mr Bell also thinks itwas easier to become a Cityof Culture in 1990, whenthere was not the samelevel of internationalexchange, and people werenot as familiar with the restof the world. “Now it’s thatmuch more difficult, becauseit has become quite astandard thing to do thesebig, international festivals:the same artists tend toappear, and travel hasbecome that much easier.”

“So finding thedistinctiveness

aroundwhat a

City of Culture’s offeringwas probably easier in 1990– and quite difficult now.But unless you can make itdistinctive, it is unlikely tomake that much of animpact. Distinctiveness hasto be about what is truthfulabout a city or a region,rather than something thatis imposed. Glasgow wasable to build on its strengthsin terms of its heritage andthe cultural legacy we hadfrom previous empireexhibitions, industrialexhibitions and so on – tocreate something that wastruthful to the city, not justa façade that was out overthe city’s culture, but grewout of it.”

Even Glasgow’s biggestfans must acknowledge thatparts of the city are blightedby poverty and ill­health. Asthe city’s own culturalstrategy document says:“Despite Glasgow’ssuccessful and continuingtransformation, the energyand vitality of this vibrant,metropolitan city, with asignificant culturalinfrastructure, does notimpact on the health andwell­being of a largeproportion of the city’spopulation.”

Mr O’Neill believesCapitals of Culture shouldstrive to maintain localcommunity engagementafter the year is over.

“During 1990 there wasvery good culturalprogramming in local areas,but we hadn’t planned howto sustain that afterwards,”he says. “So there was akind of gap. It was probablyfour or five years before westarted really meeting theexpectations raised in localareas.”

Andrew Bolger

Dock worker:Glasgow’s ClydeAuditorium concertvenue Dreamstime

Attractionsgive the UKa head start

The UK tourism industry isused to crises. Ash cloud dis-ruption, terrorism incidents, arun on a bank, swine flu

fears, bovine spongiform encephalopa-thy are just some of the threats thatin recent years have forced tourismbusinesses to readjust their short-term forecasts.

That is not counting the UK govern-ment putting up the cost of visas, orintroducing air passenger duty (APD),and then increasing it.

Nor does it take into account thecrisis of confidence brought on byobserving destinations around theworld raise their game and throw mil-lions more than the UK into market-ing and self-promotion.

But industry bleatings must sounda bit rich to most other countries. TheNation Brands index ranks Britainfourth out of 50 countries in terms ofculture. It is ranked the fourth bestfor contemporary culture, seventh forits cultural heritage and eighth forsports. According to VisitBritain, thegovernment tourism agency, inboundvisitors are spending £4.5bn a year onculture and heritage.

Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of

VisitBritain, said: “When you look atcompetitive data, culture and heritageis one of the country’s greatstrengths. People love these attrac-tions when they come here, but wehave to make sure that people knowthey are here. The challenge is mar-keting them overseas.”

The UK has another advantage,too. The Olympics is coming to Lon-don in 2012. The free publicity Londonand the UK gets is worth tourism dol-lars by the spade and bucketload.

Many business complain, though,that tourism has been rather ignoredby the government considering it isthe UK’s fifth largest sector.

According to the Tourism Alliance,a lobbying group for the industry,tourism generates £114bn and gener-ates 2.7m jobs. When you add togetherall the business involved in hospital-ity, attractions, events, visitor trans-port and tourism services, you get toa total of around 200,000, 80 per centof which are small and medium-sizedenterprises.

The bulk of UK tourism is domestic,generating the movement of £67bnaround the UK economy, much of itfrom towns and cities to rural andseaside locations. The “staycation”effect, which has seen many reces-sion-conscious UK residents switchfrom holidays abroad to holidays athome, is clearly benefiting culturalattractions and, with them, UK tour-ism.

For example, the Tower of London,Hampton Court Palace and Kensing-ton Palace enjoyed their best Easterattendance figures for a decade. The

trend over the last few years has beenpositive for the British Museum, Edin-burgh Castle and Blenheim Palace.The National Maritime Museum,which has relied on overseas visitors,has been noticing a sharp spike inattendance from UK residents.

Earnings from the 32m a year whovisit from abroad amount to £19bn.The Treasury makes £3.5bn in tour-ism from APD and VAT, and overallgets £15bn a year from tourism.

The Association of Leading VisitorAttractions, which represents organi-sations responsible for 1,600 tourismvenues, reported a 3.4 per cent rise invisitor numbers last summer. But therise averaged 11 per cent for the yearas a whole, reflecting how far manyattractions have come in promotingthemselves year-round.

The UK tourism industry should beon the cusp of a golden period ofgrowth. The rise of affluent classes inChina and India has many globaltourism destinations licking their lips,none more so than ones with majorinternational hubs like London.

There are internal issues for Brit-ain’s tourism leaders to manage. Visit-Britain says to get visitors to return,British tourism needs to present cul-ture and heritage “as an inspiring mixof the old and the new”, and portrayBritain as an evolving country, ratherthan the perceived “stagnant societystuck in post-war England”.

More immediately, tourism isunlikely to escape the chill winds ofthe UK’s grim economic climate. BobCotton, departing chief executive ofthe British Hospitality Association,

TourismThe industry is cautiouslyoptimistic about helpfrom the government,writes Roger Blitz

Not so secret weapon: the UK is ranked seventh in the world for its cultural heritage, and the Tower of London – behind Tower Bridge, above – had its best Easter attendance in a decade Bloomberg News

The ’staycation’ effect,which has seen manyrecession­consciousUK residents switch toholidays at home, isclearly benefitingcultural attractions

warned last week that the industry ison the decline again after a good firstquarter, and that a VAT hike andpublic expenditure cuts would betroubling for the industry.

Tourism bodies continue to pleadfor sympathy from government. Dur-ing the election campaign, the Tour-ism Alliance called for among otherthings movement on APD and VAT, arise in aviation capacity, protection ofpublic funding for tourism and anincrease in tourism promotion funds.

The tourism industry during muchof the last government was critical ofa succession of Labour ministers,doubting the party’s interest in tour-ism. The industry is upbeat about theprospect of the new government tak-ing a keener interest.

George Osborne, the new chancel-lor, even devoted a speech before the

election to tourism, saying tourismwas “one of the jewels in the crown ofthe British economy”. With camepromises to generate an extra £6.5bninto the economy by setting new tar-gets for domestic tourism.

Against that are worries that thenew government will abolish theregional development agencies,Labour’s devolved regeneration bodiesthat drive much of the tourism initia-tives around England, and the proba-bility that aviation growth will stall,given the cancellation of the plans fora third runway at London’s Heathrow.

Tourism will continue to expect theunexpected from events outside theindustry’s control. All that tourismbusinesses ask for is a bit of recogni-tion of the industry’s contribution tothe culture and the economy of theUK.