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The arts are often first to lose out when governments slash budgets, but former chairman of Arts Council England Sir Christopher Frayling argues that increasing arts budgets could aid economic recovery, as he tells ARMINTA WALLACE.

AS THE recession deepens and the Government belt tightens, many arts organisations in Ireland are steeling themselves for a period of cutbacks in public funding. But there are those who argue that when times get tough, that’s when the arts should take a leading role in our socio-economic culture. One man who puts this case more fluently than most is the rector of London’s Royal College of Art and recently retired chairman of Arts Council England, Sir Christopher Frayling.