"Living By Bread Alone?" - How can we lobby politicians more effectively about arts funding Dan Barnard, 26 January 2014 Session called by: Dan Barnard Present: John Walton, Rosalie White, Frances Rifkin, Corrine Wahlberg We discussed the idea that theatre can encourage more active citizenship and how we might be able to make that case to politicians We discussed how many politicians had seen shows that we were involved in and realised that politicians do go to the theatre, which is a good start. The idea of routinely inviting MPs to our shows then talking to them (gently) afterwards came up. And finding ways to get in touch with them through 6 degrees of separation type methods and through directly writing to them etc. Adopting a really non confrontational approach and dialogue. The Shakespeare Schools Festival for example got Michael Gove to come and got him enthused. As an alternative tactic, the idea of all theatres and theatre artists going on strike for a week was discussed - which has come up in other sessions. We talked about how if this happened we would have to have a really clear case and really clear points to make and probably get celebrities to make these points. We talked about how, if we could engage a wider range of the public in the arts then politicians might be more sympathetic - and that we need to think more radically about how to do this e.g taking more work outside for free etc - which many people are already doing. Or having arts at community events - and inviting politicians to these so that they could kill many birds with one stone. The importance of getting non artists to lobby politicians about the arts was discussed - which the What Next movement is also talking about. For example the video games industry is advocating for the arts because the arts trains people in the creativity they need for game design. Also getting school teachers and school pupils to advocate for the difference the arts have made for them - the voices that the What Next national meeting showcased. We discussed the element of glamour that we can offer as a sector to politicians. Overall the group felt that a really non confrontational approach might work best - although there were dissenting voices who felt that it was in fact a total waste of time to lobby politicians and that we should stop bothering. The idea of for example giving audience members postcards to their MP at the end of the show which said I love theatre because… or something. Or giving exit cards with the company's mailing list, Twitter etc plus a link to lobbying websites such as mytheatrematters - or an alternative site. The idea of having post show discussions on particular themes and, if there was a theme that was of interest to an MP, inviting them to come and speak at that - so that they were getting an audience as well as being engaged in the arts. We discussed the important role that the arts play in facilitating community cohesion and agreed that it was important to make this case more clearly. We thought of, for example, a campaign in which we explain what the arts could do if all tax payers contributed a penny more every year. Or just made the case for how much we do compared to how little the public pay more clearly. Making the case for the real value for money that the arts is. We talked about how rationally the arts don't seem like a humanity but that people do need more than material things - and always have - and have always made art. But that this value is often non financial (which was also discussed in other sessions. Tags: politicians, lobbying, community, education, Community, citizenship, Funding, funding, Education, MPs, outdoor arts