Chart-topping singer songwriter Ed Sheeran has joined industry leaders to warn that home-grown artistic talent could disappear without public funding.
He said aspiring musicians, artists and actors needed subsidies to discover their talents.
'Without the funding for art, drama and music for young people then you just won’t have any home-grown talent at all.
'The music industry in England is one of the most powerful things in the world and one of Britain’s best and most lucrative exports. It just makes no sense not to support it.'
The warning came in a report by the Creative Industries Federation and Arts Council England which said the creative industries contribute more than £10.8bn to the UK economy.
The federation's chief executive Alan Bishop said the commercial success of British fashion designers, music stars and film directors had been 'umbilically linked to the deep talent pool of the publicly funded arts'.
Image: yakub88 / Shutterstock.com.
