ART & CLASS

<p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>On a bright autumn day in 1857 the workers from Salts Mill in Yorkshire were waiting for special trains to take them on a day trip.</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> But they were not going to Blackpool: they were going to The Manchester Art Exhibition which attracted 1.3 million visitors in less than six months the majority of whom were mill hands factory workers and domestic servants. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Today less than 8% of visitors to our great galleries are from the working class. When and why did the working classes stop visiting art galleries and why does this matter?</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Art & Class describes the advent of public art in the 18</span><sup style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>th</sup><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Century the development of national galleries in London and the explosion of regional galleries all of which were crowded with working-class visitors. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>All this came to a halt in 1946 when Keynes and the Bloomsbury Group seized control of the art world by establishing the Arts Council slashing the countrywide </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Art for the People</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> budget and pouring money into opera and ballet.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The same metropolitan elite who established the Arts Council in 1946 still dominate our national galleries. Despite free opening a range of charging and taxation policies mean that the working classes are not only being denied access to cultural capital but are subsidising the middle classes.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Art is a key aspect of cultural capital which middle-class children absorb through visits to galleries and concerts but which are beyond the reach of working-class parents. This precious commodity opens the door to the elite universities and then on to high-paying jobs but working-class graduates entering the elite professions earn 16% less than their middle-class peers. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>If the boards of today's galleries were more diverse and had inclusive charging and curatorial policies then as in the Victorian era they would attract visitors from all classes.</span></p>