~John Holden~ argues that cultural funding cannot be justified by social goals alone

Recent research by Bolton MBC reaches an intriguing conclusion. It suggests that local people value their museum and library services at almost twice what is spent on them. Even people who don't use cultural services value them. And national surveys confirm this picture. One in four people think that too little is spent on the arts in their area. At the same time, there is growing public participation in – and enthusiasm for – the arts.