Rethinking our future: Culture must be valued for its own sake – it is everyone’s right to enjoy it

Andy Burnham will find his Downing Street in-tray filled with economic and social challenges. We asked eight experts how he should tackle them. In this analysis, Jude Kelly looks at culture. Click here for the rest of the series

There is every reason to believe that Andy Burnham will be a good thing for culture, provided you are someone who believes that it is everyone’s right to experience and enjoy it. He does, I do, and so this is what I hope he will commit to.

I hope he will fully back the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for the pivotal role it plays in repairing, sustaining and developing our national identity and social cohesion. Set up by Chris Smith in the late 1990s, it may be viewed by some in the Treasury as a lightweight compared with the heavy-hitting Home Office but its boost to optimism, energy, a sense of purpose and belonging – the things that the arts, sports and popular culture excel in – make it a potential dynamo.

I hope he will support culture to flourish, not just in Greater Manchester, but across the UK. The Great North Creative, of which I am the founding chair, is a pan-regional partnership, part of the Great North initiative established by the northern metro mayors, with Burnham very much a driver. Its aim is to ensure that northern creative industries have the finance, skills and connectivity they need to thrive and unlock jobs, prosperity and opportunity. 

He must now take the same approach to all regions without favouritism. I hope he will fully endorse other key figures who believe in the power of culture to change lives, whether they be artists, creative leaders or other political players such as the indefatigable mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, or the North East mayor, Kim McGuinness.

I hope he will publicly own his love of music, poetry and speak of the importance art plays in his personal life. Culture isn’t a patina he has adopted to be accepted by our sector. He knows how to value art for its own sake. 

I hope he will accelerate the essential return of high-quality arts provision into the curriculum of ordinary state schools at all levels, as well as doubling down on the need for informal arts education at every point in a young person’s life.

I hope he will continue to see the importance of large-scale infrastructure projects such as Manchester’s Aviva Studios, but will be just as concerned with how culture threads itself through communities, building identities, not just branding them. He understands the role it plays as a vital infrastructure and a tool to lift marginalised communities and improve public health. 

I hope he will knock heads together between government departments and get them all to recognise the essential creative ingredients that culture offers to public policy. I hope he will continue to show himself to be comfortable around powerful women and champion diversity in every respect. The world of culture needs this as much as other spheres.

But whatever policies get written and whatever interviews are given, in the end, zeitgeist words, catchphrases, policy soundbites and quick-win announcements are not going to cut the mustard. Progress can only be achieved with emotional intelligence, empathy and the ability to hear and tell stories.

I’m optimistic. Burnham has those qualities, partly as a result of his studies in the humanities. Specifically, he has learned that navigating public service and policy effectively requires a deep appreciation for empathy, emotional intelligence and people’s real motivations.

I’ve witnessed him turning sound belief into clear action at a regional level. Now is his chance to use his talent for national good.

Is he the messiah? Of course not. But I do think his commitment to our cultural life goes far deeper than rhetoric. He needs to keep channelling that alchemy he has maintained in Manchester: conviction and pragmatism, plus the ability to tell a story well. I wish him – and us – good luck.

Jude Kelly is the founder director of the Wow Foundation

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Photograph by PA Images / Alamy

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Manchesterism is not about replacing London, but unlocking the capital’s full potential

Britain faces two big problems on defence – only by spending can we solve them

How Andy Burnham can put Britain at the heart of the AI revolution

The crisis in adult social care has to be confronted, not kicked into the long grass – again

Don’t stop school leavers going to university – just make sure the courses are fit for purpose