The Arts Dividend Revisited

Book excerpt: The Arts Dividend looks in depth at seven key benefits that art and culture bring to our lives: encouraging the UK's creativity; advancing education; impacting positively on health and wellbeing; supporting innovation and technology; providing defining characteristics to villages, towns and cities; contributing to economic prosperity; and enhancing England's reputation for cultural excellence on the global stage. This book encourages us to consider the country's unique levels of creativity and the invaluable rewards to be gained from the public investment that enables great art and culture to be a part of everyone's lives, no matter who they are or where they live. Having spent a year traveling the length and breadth of England, Darren Henley shares his reflections on the UK's national arts and culture landscape in 2016, offering a snapshot of the remarkable creativity on display from Cumbria to Kent and from Cornwall to Northumberland.