Among the tens of billions spaffed out by the government during the last two years-worth of pandemic funding, Guido reckons DCMS needs to reflect on their part played in handing out cash to dubious culture and arts programmes. Research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance now shows the government coughed up over £1 billion in cultural grants during 2020-21. £1,367,422.599 to be precise…

While this figure pales in comparison to the total Treasury spend during that time, looking into the specific shows and programmes the funding went towards will raise eyebrows among Tory ranks. According to the wonks’ research, among those given money by the Cultural Recovery Fund, National Heritage Memorial Fund and Arts Council England were:

• £18,966 A ‘Family Sex Show’ for children as young as five, featuring nudity and discussions about “pleasure, queerness, sex, gender and relationships” 
• £254,091 to SICK! Productions, who are currently running an “Ejaculation Falls Participation Call Out” in which they are looking for six people “to participate in the creation and presentation of Ejaculation Falls, exploring their experience or inexperiences of sex and pleasure.”
• £16,724 given to “Pecs Drag Kings”, “an all-female/non-binary theatre and cabaret company” that produces “sexy, raucous and highly entertaining” shows.
• £181,438 to the “Bureau of Silly Ideas”, an organisation describing itself as a creator of “inspired madness and controlled chaos in the public realm.” Their recent work has mainly consisted of a rubbish bin squirting kids with water. To be fair this one actually seems to be panto-like entertainment for kids, so why does it need subsidising?

Elliot Keck of the Taxpayers’ Alliance tells Guido, “Taxpayers are fed up seeing their hard-earned cash wasted on cultural claptrap.”

“With the economy in genuine peril during the pandemic, funds could have been better used elsewhere rather than on these absurd projects. 

 

“The government must bring the curtain down on wasteful spending before demanding more money from working taxpayers.”