London is home to more than 1,000 art galleries and museums, Europe’s largest live comedy scene, historic music venues and the world-famous West End. People travel from across the globe to experience what London has to offer.

Yet, many Londoners do not reap the benefits of the arts and culture available in the city they call home. While physical engagement with arts and culture in London sits below or close to the national average, this hides major geographical inequalities within the city. London is home to boroughs with both some of the highest and lowest levels of arts and cultural engagement in the UK. The inequalities are stark.

This research dived into data, analysing the latest statistics from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and fresh data from a survey conducted by Savanta of 1,579 Londoners, to understand the barriers to Londoners enjoying the variety of arts and culture London has to offer. Building on these data sets, and speaking to cultural practitioners and policy experts, we drew out fresh recommendations to ensure more Londoners benefit from London’s world-class cultural offer.

Recommendations:

For National Government

• Introduce a national Arts Pass for U-25s to ensure every young person regardless of background can enjoy the best of London and the UK’s arts and culture scene.
• Promote the value of the Arts in the national core curriculum to nurture future talent and ensure equality of access to arts and culture.
• Restore arts funding to local government to 2010 levels and invest in Arts Council England funding for London to kick-start growth and increase inclusivity.
• Allow the Greater London Authority to explore the implementation of a Tourist Tax to help invest in London’s arts and cultural scene.

For Regional and Local Government

• Ensure arts and culture are at the heart of implementing the London Growth Plan’s vision to build a fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London.
• Reinvigorate local authority culture strategies to plan for the long term to foster local cultural activity.

For Institutions:

• The Arts Council should build on their Cultural Compacts model to deeply engage with and respond to the priorities and preferences of local organisations and communities.
• Institutions should work hand-in-hand with communities so that cultural programming reflects London’s diverse audiences, especially those least represented in the arts and cultural sector.
• Institutions and their partners should act as champions and enablers for local and grassroots organisations in order to reach Londoners who are most marginalised from the arts.
• Arts organisations should take an audience-first approach, using data, insight and collaboration to more effectively reach and engage diverse audiences.