The UK’s Use of Lotteries to Support Arts and Culture

October 8, 2014; ArtNetNews

Recently, the Heritage Lottery Fund, whose mission is to distribute funds raised through the National Lottery in the form of grants to sustain and transform heritage, announced a disbursement of £5 million ($8 million) to 23 of the United Kingdom’s libraries and museums. These funds will be disseminated to these organizations to acquire a range of new exhibit pieces over the next five years. One of the funded institutions includes the Museum of London, which will use the grant to purchase experimental photography pieces and expand their collection.

Europe has a vastly different model of government support and funding for arts and culture as compared to the United States. William Osborne addresses the differences in European and American cultural perspectives and funding as such:

Europeans use public funding to provide alternatives to the marketplace for cultural expression.
European politicians avoid attacking the arts for populist and opportunistic political gains.
European arts funding is generally decentralized and administered mostly on the state and municipals levels.
Europeans use their cultural legacies to establish and assert their place in the world, often through extensive cultural diplomacy.
Europeans combine arts education with the living presence of the performing arts within their communities.
Even though Europeans often celebrate the lighter classics, they still stress classical musical for its inherent strengths.
Europeans view the city itself as the greatest and most complete expression of the human mind and spirit.

On the other hand, the National Endowment for the Arts identifies America’s support for the arts, in the third edition of How the United States Funds the Arts, as a multi-faceted model integrating three major funding sources: direct public funding, other public funding (direct and indirect), and private sector contributions.

“The U.S. arts system has no single benefactor, no overarching arbiter or agency, no Ministry of Culture. Instead a variety of government subsidies compose roughly seven percent of the nation’s total investment in not-for-profit arts groups.”

In comparison to arts councils throughout Europe, the National Endowment for the Arts gives out the smallest amount of overall funding ($0.47 budget per capita) to nonprofit arts and culturals, as compared to such leaders in giving as the Arts Council of Wales ($17.80 budget per capita) and even the second lowest funding entity in the study, Creative New Zealand ($2.98 budget per capita).

How can leaders in the American arts and cultural and overall nonprofit realms integrate the European way of thinking and support into our current government funding model? The U.S. relies heavily on individual and private donations as our government sources shrink. The lottery system is the European Union’s way of responding to its shrinking resources. In either case, both models have shortfalls that need attention and are constantly evolving with the current economic climate.

Regardless of the structural and environmental circumstances, two things are certain: Funding, even in limited amounts, is available to some extent, and art, culture, history, and tradition remain valued attributes in our lives. The funding and support struggle will never be over; we just need to keep all possibilities on the table and be prepared to continue to diversify our sources.—Jennifer Swan

About the author

Jennifer Swan

Jennifer Swan is currently the Associate Director for Arts Services Initiative of WNY (ASI). In this role Ms. Swan assists in positioning ASI as the link between the arts and cultural community and other sectors of the region. She provides outreach and administrative support to ASI’s partner networks including the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance (GBCA), Cultural Alliance of Niagara (CAN), and serves on the Arts Partners for Learning (APL) Leadership Team. Ms. Swan is the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization (DEC) Grant Program Coordinator for Erie and Niagara Counties. Previously Ms. Swan was the Business Manager for the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus where she was responsible for the day–to-day operations, working alongside the Board of Directors and committees. Major projects included the involvement of the Chorus in the Music Culture 716 collaborative and extending the Chorus’ regular season to include special performances at community events such as the National Historic Preservation Conference held in Buffalo in October 2011. Ms. Swan currently serves on the Chorus’ Concert, Marketing, and Nominating Committees. From 2009-2011 she managed and maintained the box office and front of house at the Lancaster Opera House, and orchestrated and organized an annual fundraiser for two years. Here she solicited donations and managed all aspects of the event from preparation to day-of activities. Her other arts and cultural work includes judging Congressman Higgins’ Congressional Student Art Competition in 2012, 2013, and 2014; past work includes Music is Art’s The Big Easy in Buffalo Committee, Volunteer Coordinator for Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center’s Artists and Models: Nocturminal fundraiser, Marketing/Concert Crew for Slee Hall at Lippes Concert Hall at the University at Buffalo, and Music Librarian and Marketing for the Amherst Chamber Ensembles. Additional work in the for-profit sector includes Promotions for Citadel Broadcasting and Righteous Babe Records, and management and marketing for several individual music projects. Ms. Swan has presented at a variety of community-wide engagements including to Leadership Buffalo’s Arts, Culture, and Tourism Day (June 2014), Daemen College’s Art and Community Class (April 2014), University at Buffalo’s Management Career Development Class (November 2013), and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Evening with the Professionals at Buffalo State College (October 2012). Ms. Swan has a MA in Arts Management from the University at Buffalo and a BA in Communications/Broadcasting with a minor in music from Buffalo State College. While at the University at Buffalo she traveled abroad with NUROPE (Nomadic University for Art, Philosophy, and Enterprise in Europe) to Sweden and Finland, completing an intensive scholarly program entitled Beyond Bergman and Nobel: Scandinavian Cultural Policy and Performing Arts. As a result of that academic excursion, Ms. Swan co-wrote an article forUB International titled “Summer School in Arts Management Held in Finland and Sweden.”

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