The Rural Services Network (RSN)  has generally welcomed the announcement by the Government of the launch of a £250m (£50M for 5 years) culture investment fund

The fund will provide funding for a wide range of projects, including extending the Cultural Development Fund for another 5 years with over £90m of funding, which will enable more than 20 places across the country to transform their local cultural and creative industry infrastructure and major infrastructure and maintenance work at local and regional museums across the country, safeguarding precious collections and local landmarks and increasing opportunities for commercial and community use.

However, the RSN has also said that a fair proportion of the fund must be allocated to support areas across rural England.

RSN Chair, Councillor Cecilia Motley said:

“The House of Lords Select Committee Report on the Rural Economy recommended that Arts England and other public arts and creative sector funders should ensure that rural communities receive an equitable share of their future investments and that should include a strategic investment programme for the creative rural economy. The RSN supports that recommendation and will want to see that principle of an equitable share of investment for rural areas applied to this new fund. That equitable share should reflect the scale of reductions in support given to the arts and creative industries sector in rural areas through the years of austerity funding cuts”

She further commented “This new fund appears to be focused on infrastructure and capital projects. Revenue support to programmes established and run by Arts England through a strategic investment programme as recommended by the Lords Select Committee is also needed and will pay dividends through enhanced performance of rural economies across England”.