Successive governments don’t recognize the arts as economically productive. They only value us as economic units, hence all the talk of ‘something for nothing’. We are all nothing to them unless we are economically self-reliant. The word subsidy has all but disappeared from their vocabulary. They talk about us as idle and that they cannot afford our art. When they refer to hard-working people, when did you last hear this in relation to artists? When did you last hear them mention the 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration that is the driving power of artists? In an aggressive Capitalist society, we are dispensable if we can’t be self-reliant, even though our health problems prevent us from being self-reliant. The arts is precarious, our health is precarious – we are thus doubly affected. They talk about the creative industries and the creative talent of our society but they are withdrawing tax credits for self-employed disabled people – even though self-employment is the only viable option for many disabled people .

The Big Society is alive and kicking on the internet. People give and share their creative endeavours for free or for little renumeration. A government that really cared about the creative talent of its people would invest in its artists, and would subsidise those unable to be economically self-sufficient. They would encourage the long term sick and disabled who spend their time creatively and beneficially, instead of seeing us as only economic units to be beaten, bullied, controlled, disempowered and erased.

We resist.

We won’t have our arts broken.