Idea for Greece? Britain worth 15 billion more thanks to art

It could just be a solution to Greece's problems: investing in culture. For Britain, at least, the softest of all sectors has proved a fertile cash cow. The cultural sector added 15 billion in value to the economy there last year, almost 3 billion more than two years ago. In other words, for every pound the government put in in the form of subsidies, 5 euros came back in the form of taxes paid by the cultural sector. Net revenue from subsidies alone is 2.35 billion cobbled-together pounds.

All this is evident from a report which the British Arts Council released today. This government body distributes arts funding annually. Between 2010 and 2012, it too was forced to make major cuts under pressure from populist political parties. The recovery in Great Britain is now great. The main riser in the UK cultural economy is the performing arts, traditionally already the biggest employer in the UK. Museums are a close second. They add €1.45 billion to the UK economy. Tourism appears to be a major source of visits and income.

Certain parts of the cultural sector are also growing in the Netherlands. For instance, since the reopening of some major museums, there has been a tremendous spike in museum visits, although here this is mainly limited to the well-known major museums in the periphery. The performing arts here have the problem that English is not spoken. So you won't encounter non-Dutch-speaking tourists very often at a Dutch musical or theatre performance.

What we can take away from the UK figures, though? That culture always adds value. Not only in intelligence, broad-mindedness and giftedness, but also in hard cash. So it really should be seriously considered to invest precisely in culture during a serious economic crisis. It only yields positive things.

But of course, we must also bear in mind that the timing of this report is crucial. After all, the right-wing government in England is devising plans that will hit the most vulnerable and softest parts of England the hardest. Then, of course, a calculation like this is always nice to counter the hardliners.

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