William Pitt Seminar: Affording the Arts - The Cost of Culture

The 14th annual Pembroke College William Pitt Seminar: Affording the Arts - The Cost of Culture took place on Friday 11th October 2019 in Cambridge. Guests from academia, industry and policy joined the debate in the McGrath Centre at St Catharine’s College.

Pembroke’s Master, Lord Chris Smith, introduced the Seminar by suggesting that the debate would not only be asking how we can afford the arts, but also how we can afford not to engage with, to support, and to savour the arts. 

Our chair for the event was Nick Serota, chair of the Arts Council and previous Director of the Tate. The four panellists came from widely different backgrounds: Moira Sinclair from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, one of the most important philanthropic foundations in the arts world; Nick Hytner of the Bridge Theatre and previously at the National Theatre; Henry Howard-Sneyd is an auctioneer in the field of Asian art; and Rob Dickins ran Warner Music and headed the BPI, the federation representing the British music industry.

In a wide-ranging debate and discussion, the panellists presented their experiences, outlooks and opinions. Nick Serota kicked off proceedings by highlighting key moments for arts funding in the 20th century, including the removal of entrance charges for national museums by the Master, Lord Smith. 

Rob Dickins made the case for funding arts education - suggesting also that we can’t not afford culture and that it is culture that fosters the creativity in the population which leads to many positive outcomes, often with an associated economic upside. 

The wider value of the arts – the social impact rather than the economic - was considered by Moira Sinclair. Moira suggested that “Can we afford the arts? is the wrong question – the question is what would we have if they weren’t there?”. Despite being difficult to value, there is no doubt of the value of arts to our society. 

Nick Hytner spoke of the importance that art is funded for its own sake and that public subsidy is the bedrock of the entire performing arts sector. 

Finally, Henry Howard-Sneyd suggested that the question of ‘why to afford the art?’ further raises the question of ‘why is art valuable in the first place?’. Henry said that people always ask him “What should I buy?” when what they really mean is “What is a good investment?”.

There followed some interesting and piercing questions from the audience of the College community and our invited colleagues and guests from academia, industry and policy, the Master warmly thanked the Chair and panellists for a fascinating debate. After the Seminar, conversations and discussions on subjects raised such as arts funding and measuring the impact of the arts continued over dinner in Pembroke College’s Great Hall.  

The William Pitt Seminar is an annual event organised by Pembroke College’s Corporate Partnership Programme. The Seminar has grown to become one of the flagship events of the College’s events calendar and draws in respected and influential speakers and guests to debate a subject of global interest and concern.