Royal Academy chief attacks MPS for lack of support on arts

THE Royal Academy of Arts is “haemorrhaging money” and politicians are staying silent over an existential crisis in the arts, its chief executive has claimed.

Axel Ruger said leaders in other European countries had shown greater appreciation of the cultural sector, while crisis-stricken institutions in Britain face huge financial losses and uncertain futures, with little clarity from the Government.

The Royal Academy is losing around £1 million every month due to lockdown, and measures to maintain social distancing after an eventual reopening could reduce capacity to around 20-25 per cent, stifling the ticket sales the institution depends on.

Mr Ruger told The Daily Telegraph: “Everything that we need for our existence is income, revenue that we generate ourselves.”

He believes the RA’S long-term existence is something that is not guaranteed, while there is little clarity on a date for reopening.

The RA’S chief executive claims his uncertainty and the lack of regard for culture is not shared on the continent, where some grand institutions have already emerged from the Covid-19 lockdown.

He said: “What I am missing, and I find it rather startling, that in Britain in none of the government utterances in the last weeks has the word culture been mentioned once.

“Whereas when I look at France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, there have been much more emphatic expressions of support, and also of appreciation for the cultural sector.”