MU Plans To Fight Funding Cuts In UK Arts Higher Education

The Musicians’ Union is leading the campaign to fight the cuts that have been confirmed across the board in the UK’s higher education arts sector. The Office for Students (OfS) has confirmed that the catastrophic funding cut will go ahead despite the many MU members and other creatives, industry organisations, higher education institutions and trade unions who have raised serious and legitimate concerns.

What does this mean?

The Government will impose a 50% funding cut to arts subjects at higher education (HE) in England, including music. According to Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson, this is because music and the arts are not among its “strategic priorities”.

Proposed cuts affect the money the Government gives Higher Education institutions to top up course funding that otherwise comes from students’ tuition fees. These cuts will cause chaos for students starting courses in the autumn term of 2021, and undoubtedly will put the UK’s world leading reputation for music and the arts at risk. It may be a relatively small amount of money in the Government’s mind, but a 50% funding cut to residual funding will have a catastrophic impact on music and arts subjects at the Higher Education level in England.

It risks the financial viability of essential training that will produce the next generation of musicians and arts professionals. It will affect all students, particularly those from less privileged backgrounds by creating an additional barrier to students who already face multiple barriers to studying music at university. And it pulls the rug out from under our creative industries and music, which are worth £112bn and £5.8bn respectively.

How will this affect musicians in the UK?

MU Deputy General Secretary Naomi Pohl explains:

“This news is frankly the last straw for our members, many of whom have survived without any Government support and barely any work for the past 18 months. Since we heard about these proposed cuts, there has been an enormous outpouring of fury and disappointment from our members and the wider music community.

Musicians are highly skilled, resilient, creative and community minded. Their work generates billions for the UK economy, and they contribute in infinite ways to our cultural life, health and wellbeing. We must ensure that the talent pipeline doesn’t dry up. Closing opportunities to learn music is short-sighted, and at the end of the day we’ll all suffer.”

MU National Organiser for Education Chris Walters concurs:

“We will continue to campaign for fairer funding for arts and music courses at higher education, in particular for less privileged students who will be hit hardest by this. Sadly, we believe that the Government’s approach will only undermine our phenomenally successful creative economy and make entry into the music industry more difficult for many.”

What is the MU campaigning for?

The MU outlines that “levelling up can’t be achieved through the redistribution of existing funds, because those funds are already not enough. Arts education needs more funding, not a fight over the little that currently exists.”

They urge those in the UK to get involved and email their MP to stop the cuts using our template letter, and find out more in the MU’s HE funding campaign hub.

If life and the industry is ever to return to ‘normal’ or recover following the last 18 months of the pandemic, there surely has to be an arts industry for us to return to, and for the next generation to work towards.

Also by Michelle Sciarrotta: