THE government spent over £10m funding arts and culture projects last year – with over £9m going to just five recipients.
The recently published Arts, Culture and Heritage Delivery Update 2024 revealed that over £10.2m was granted by the government for the purposes of artistic, educational and cultural enrichment in the Island last year.
Of this, over £9m was split between the five biggest grant recipients: ArtHouse Jersey, Jersey Arts Centre, Jersey Heritage Trust, Jersey Opera House, and Ballet de Jèrri.
The report, published on Friday, is the first of its kind to be released by the government since the launch of the The Creative Island 2022–27 and the Heritage Strategy.
The document details how grant funding was calculated and distributed to creative and cultural organisations and projects throughout the year.
Jersey Heritage topped the list of major grantees last year after receiving over £5.8m – £300,000 more than the historical organisation received in 2023.
Aside from the five main recipients, the remaining funding was allocated to smaller arts and cultural projects including festivals, education, artists, musicians and exhibitions.
It comes after the government in 2019 committed to spending 1% of its net revenue expenditure each year on arts, culture and heritage.
Last year, that commitment came under threat of cuts but was successfully defended against by Deputy Montfort Tadier, who challenged ministers over a line in the proposed Budget, which stated that the funding mechanism for arts, culture and heritage would instead be linked to inflation.
The decision to increase public spending in the sector was influenced by the Jersey Culture, Arts and Heritage Strategic Review and Recommendations in 2018, which stated that funding had not kept pace with increasing costs.
With the new 1% funding mechanism, the report outlined that the Arts Culture and Heritage budget rose from £4.7m to £8.7m between 2016 and 2022.
It showed that the number of people attending Jersey Museum rose by 89% in 2024 when it became free to enter, and the Jersey Arts Centre had a record year with over 36,000 attendances.
Jersey Heritage sites were visited by 140,000 tourists in 2024.
Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel said the report is “an important step in our journey to further embed arts, culture, and heritage at the heart of Jersey’s society and economy”.
“We’ve defined what the 1% commitment means, demonstrated the great work it enables, and outlined our progress towards meeting the key aims of our Arts Strategy,” he said.
“The report highlights the power of public investment as we continue to encourage creativity within the community.”
