Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer has announced several key proposals aimed at reforming the arts sector in the UK, focusing on increasing accessibility, tackling ticket touts in the music and sports industries, and ensuring diversity within the arts and culture jobs market. These initiatives come as part of Labour’s broader commitment to culture and the arts, should they be successful in the next general election.

Firstly, addressing the issue of ticket resales, Starmer has pledged to impose a cap on the resale prices of tickets for music and sports events to combat touting. This proposal seeks to ensure fair access to live events, countering the exploitation of fans by a small number of resellers. The plan also includes limiting the number of tickets an individual can resell, with the aim of disrupting the secondary ticketing market. This move has attracted support from Adam Webb of the FanFair Alliance, while critics, including those from the Conservative party, have raised concerns about potential adverse effects on the arts sector’s finances.

Furthermore, Starmer has outlined an ambitious vision to widen access to arts careers, particularly for individuals from working-class backgrounds, and to counteract the dominance of the sector by those who are privately educated. Labour’s strategy involves reforming the school curriculum to include a stronger emphasis on arts and creative subjects, thereby nurturing skills such as confidence, public speaking, and creativity from a young age. The decline in arts enrolment among working-class students is a specific target of these reforms. Supporting Labour’s vision, BAFTA winner Imelda Staunton has criticized the current lack of accessibility to arts jobs for working-class individuals and stressed the importance of integrating arts education more fully into the national curriculum.

To further support the development of young creatives, Labour proposes the introduction of a new Growth and Skills Levy. Additionally, the party aims to collaborate with national museums and galleries to boost public engagement with art, addressing broader issues within the sector, including the challenge of ticket touting.

Prominent figures from the arts community, including artist Damien Hirst, singer Beverley Knight, and actor James Norton, have shown support for Labour’s initiatives. They share the view that arts education transforms lives and stress the importance of making it accessible to everyone, regardless of their background.

Labour’s proposed reforms not only aim to disrupt exploitative practices in the ticket resale market but also seek to ensure the arts sector is accessible, diverse, and representative of the entire UK population. Critics, however, have voiced concerns regarding the potential financial impacts of some of these measures on the arts sector.