Comment: What Andy Burnham means for the arts

Published on: 10 August 2026

Writing for The Conversation, Adam Behr discusses the impact Andy Burnham, as new Prime Minister, could have for the arts.

Beyond the rapid turnover of prime ministers in recent years (seven in the last 15 years), there鈥檚 been an even higher churn in other roles, notably that of culture secretary 鈥� 12 in the same period, and 18 since the post was first introduced in 1997. Of these, Andy Burnham is the first to achieve the top post in British government.

Recent years have also not generally been favourable for in terms of policy, with a through both Arts Council England and local authorities from 2010-2022 (apart from the during the pandemic). Culture is, in any case, largely devolved to the UK鈥檚 constituent nations 鈥� Westminster鈥檚 direct reach runs mainly to England, plus reserved heavyweights like broadcasting, digital and media regulation.

While there鈥檚 been an upturn since the last general election, this has leaned towards in buildings and infrastructure, with for the recurrent, day-to-day funding that sustains programming, jobs and artists鈥� livelihoods.

So, what might the sector expect from a government led by a former holder of the culture brief, given Treasury habits of treating culture as a second-order priority, rather than a key part of the national fabric?

More than the Ha莽ienda

Burnham鈥檚 more recent suggests a commitment that goes beyond club anecdotes about the . As mayor, Burnham commissioned an independent Greater Manchester Music Review with UK Music, launched in 2018 and published in 2019. This , leading to a regional with artists, venues, and industry brought into the room with civic decision-makers.

This article is part of our series. These articles tackle the challenges of the arts and heritage industry 鈥� and celebrate the wins, too.

He also explicitly backed a 拢1 ticket levy on major arena-scale events to support grassroots venues, and a VAT cut for music venues, along with supporting the principle, which shifts the cost of soundproofing buildings on to developers making changes to an area, rather than pre-existing venues.

This suggests the application of a relatively consistent understanding of culture beyond a decorative add-on 鈥� as economic and civic infrastructure through jobs, the and a touring pipeline.

But translating that into engagement with the sector will be a longer process. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy 鈥� retained in the cabinet reshuffle 鈥� has faced some scepticism from the sector. She is seen as better at diagnosis than delivery and had previously been .

Keeping Nandy in post, though, could be read less as inertia than alignment. The two are , with broadly similar instincts, and Burnham鈥檚 reconfiguration of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to include 鈥渄igital鈥� 鈥� introduced during Theresa May鈥檚 government before it lost the brief in 2023 鈥� that 鈥渃ulture and technology are inseparable drivers of our modern economy鈥�.

The devolution wager

At tech and culture festival in June, Nandy spoke publicly about the , rowing back on the 鈥渙pt-out鈥� plan for AI training on copyrighted work and acknowledging the need for a more nuanced approach to the competing demands of different parts of the creative industries. Retaining Nandy while fundamentally restructuring her department suggests Burnham鈥檚 bet is primarily on institutional change and the machinery itself helping to determine outcomes.

The test will be in the execution. Nandy鈥檚 publication in July of , the government鈥檚 first comprehensive music plan, offers a preliminary gauge.

Its ten priority areas include 拢45m in targeted grassroots investment, licensing reform and agent-of-change protections. A further 拢150m of creative funding is devolved through mayoral strategic authorities. Taken together, this suggests a focus on infrastructure policy that moves beyond cultural cheerleading. Whether that machinery accelerates delivery, or simply redistributes the familiar frictions across new layers of bureaucracy, will take longer to establish.

Turn It Up predates Burnham鈥檚 premiership, but its devolutionary impetus of funding, routed through mayoral hands, runs with the grain of his wider agenda. , published within his first fortnight, extends the same logic to the whole of government. Devolution, in this case, refers to England: decisions and funding are shifted from Whitehall to local leaders, with mayors retaining a share of locally raised revenue.

Cautious optimism

There are limits to reading Greater Manchester as a template. What worked there rested on conditions not necessarily replicable nationwide: a large conurbation with an established music economy, strong civic institutions, and a mayor with personal capital in the sector. Devolving decisions on culture to mayors relies on the will to prioritise it and, crucially, on authorities having the capacity and revenue base to act.

For smaller cities and towns outside the combined authority framework there鈥檚 a chance that 鈥溾€� could be something of a spectator sport. The talent pipeline is also under pressure from a direction the plan barely touches 鈥� in higher education is contracting as the bites, with courses closing across the country.

Nor does devolution resolve the underlying settlement: day-to-day funding for programming and livelihoods still depends substantially on Treasury decisions, and a first fortnight dominated by the cost of living, social care and the BBC Charter is a reminder of how quickly governmental bandwidth is absorbed.

Even so, there鈥檚 cause for cautious optimism. A prime minister who has held the culture brief, run a music review, and defended grassroots venues in planning disputes seems not to need persuading of the basic case.

The structural approach 鈥� building culture into how places are funded and governed, rather than leaving it to plead its corner in Whitehall 鈥� is at least a plausible wager. Whether it pays off remains to be seen. But for once, the arts seem not to be starting the argument from scratch.

, Reader in Music, Politics and Society,

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