By GILBERT WONG
When Chris Smith became Britain's first Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in 1997 he promised to "promote everything from Beefeaters to Britpop."
One of the first things he brought to the new job was the snappy new name (the Conservatives had favoured the rather stolid Department of National Heritage).
A Labour Party veteran, Smith, now 49, has held portfolios in health, heritage and social security. A committed Christian who attends services at the Church of Scotland in Covent Garden, he is also one of the few politicians comfortable enough with their sexuality to declare himself gay.
In person he seems the veritable new face of British Labour, barely touched by jetlag, and quite happy to acknowledge the Tories' original idea wasn't too bad.
"Certainly, the idea was to lift the importance of the arts, which had been a bit of a sideshow."
His term in office has been dogged by the glib phrase "Cool Britannia," which surfaced in the late 90s to become a sort of desperate rallying cry by British politicians. There was the strange spectacle of Noel Gallagher at No 10, which Tony Blair now seems prepared to forget as quickly as it happened. The lesson must be that you aren't hip just because you say you are.
Smith is not disagreeing. "Cool Britannia is a phrase I hate. I unearthed five press releases by the previous Government all proclaiming the importance of Cool Britannia. I have not used it once."
Which is not to say that the phrase wasn't triggered by a realisation in the national consciousness.
Smith says: "What I think some of the people were trying to get at is that in Britain there is a combination of the traditional and historic but also a lot of exciting, cutting-edge things in the worlds of art, music, design, fashion and architecture. The best of the old and the best of the new is a formidable combination that gives Britain a potential it hasn't had before."
The driving force behind cultural policy under Smith is the Creative Industries Taskforce, a powerful interdepartmental group of Government officials from foreign affairs, trade and industry, the treasury and representatives from the devolved Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Added to this mix are creative entrepreneurs like Virgin tycoon Richard Branson, fashion designer Paul Smith and film producer David Puttnam.
As was attempted by the poorly received Heart of the Nation report commissioned by Helen Clark, the taskforce first decided to quantify the economic contribution of the creative sector. It had never been done before.
"We surprised ourselves at what we found," says Smith. "We looked at all those industries which depend on the creation of intellectual property and across the board they represent £60 billion in annual revenue and and employ 1.4 million people. Most significantly of all, the sector is growing at twice the rate of the country's economic growth."
The taskforce came up with a three-pronged strategy. The first was to create policy to ensure the education system was equipping people to develop creative skills and gain the management skills to run creative businesses.
Smith says there was the early realisation that small, start-up creative enterprises often did not have the assets or track record that would satisfy a bank. The taskforce has encouraged the creation of venture-capital funds. He cites the case of Birmingham, where the regional arts council, the city council and a private television company have jointly invested in a fund which gives them an equity stake in start-up creative businesses. The profits from those that succeed will be ploughed back into the fund.
Finally, the taskforce has thrown its weight behind export initiatives designed to promote the sale of British intellectual property overseas. This property runs the gamut from performance to recorded music and the publishing of literature and software.
The emphasis on economic contribution has fielded some heavy complaints from prominent critics and practitioners alike, accusing Smith and the Government of neglecting the intrinsic reasons and values of culture.
In 1998 the entire Arts Council panel of 17 resigned, including members such as playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourne, director Sam Mendes and Michael Attenborough of the Royal Shakespeare Company. They said they were angry at the description of the arts as an industry.
Smith says he is well acquainted with the argument and the critics.
"They would be right if we abandoned any interest in art for art's sake, in its intrinsic value. But, in fact, through the Arts Council we are investing enhanced sums in the best of theatre, dance, music and visual arts."
Smith says that funding through grants has risen by 60 per cent over the previous Government's contribution. The last Government, he says, left many arts institutions with accumulating debt brought on by years of underfunding.
"We wiped out the deficit and enabled institutions like the very important regional orchestras to stabilise themselves and concentrate on the quality of the work rather than whether they have two pennies to rub together at the end of the week."
Smith was in Auckland briefly before returning a visit Helen Clark paid him earlier this year. She and Smith were to spend the weekend in Arthur's Pass before Smith went on to attend the Olympics.
Officials and artists turn creative over funding
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