Why universities are bad for the arts

Members of the arts establishment have spent the past week outraged, following news that for the upcoming academic year funding for university courses in drama, dance, media studies and so on might have to be temporarily halved in order to better fund courses in medicine, nursing, pharmacology, the environment and the various sciences.

Bearing in mind the state of the world, this shift in priorities might seem an unfortunate necessity. Nevertheless, toys are flying from prams. The arts education bubble is apparently livid that healthcare and the environment should be considered more deserving of funding than they are. Endless arts professional activists – who forever proclaim their undying commitment to the NHS, or the climate emergency we find ourselves in, or self-identify as anarchists who won’t be bound by institutions – are suddenly flabbergasted to find that university money might actually have to go to these subjects instead of their own.