Culture strategy can help tackle 'neo-Nazi ideas'

A new cultural strategy for York can play a key role in the push to confront reemergence of the far-right and "neo-Nazi ideas," the city's deputy council leader has said.

Labour's Pete Kilbane spoke out as councillors agreed to back the plan which aims to make culture "accessible to all".

He said art, music, drama and comedy need to be supported "from the ground up" to combat groups or individuals trying to impose their ideas.

"People who seek to impose their culture on others are entering neo-Nazi territory that we saw in the 1920s with flags going up all over Germany, that's not culture, that's propaganda," he told the meeting.

One of the strategy's six main priorities is for York to become the first city in the country to achieve "cultural entitlement" for all children and young people.

Council officials said there would be a "particular focus" on children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).

Other priorities include using York's status as the UK's first UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts to raise the city's national and international profile, and making culture a feature of the planning process and work to attract investment.

Kilbane said: "This is really important now we're living in these times again where those neo-Nazis ideas are resurfacing and are being demonstrated in cities and towns across the country.

"Culture is just something that happens when people come together, it's an expression of the creativity of people living in a certain area and it's what makes life worth living.

"It brings us all together and it belongs to everyone, its impact on wellbeing comes in bringing joy and happiness, and in making us ask questions and reflect on how we live."

Highlighting the cultural success of Edinburgh, including the world-famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he said he hoped York could use the city as an example.

"The city's economy is built on people putting on plays and telling jokes and that's something we want to see more of in York," he added.

Liberal Democrat Darryl Smalley, a former city council executive member for culture, said York is "known across the world as a city teeming with culture."

"The aims of successive culture strategies are to ensure this wealth of opportunity feels within reach to local people, that every child experiences culture and more well paid jobs are created in the sector," Smalley added.

Council chief strategy officer Claire Foale said the plans sought to harness York's unique culture, heritage and independent and vibrant arts which were rightly a source of pride.

A council report stated York continues to buck trends nationally and internationally, with nine million visitors coming to the city in 2024, bringing in more than £2bn to the local economy.

The strategy stated the creative sector is one of the country's fastest-growing sectors which contributed £124bn to the UK economy in 2022.

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