The National Audit Office (NAO) is set to examine how the project officially (albeit eventually) known as Unboxed: Creativity in the UK used its funds while attracting less than 1 per cent of early visitor targets.
First announced by Theresa May in the aftermath of Britain’s referendum on EU membership, it was promised to “showcase what makes our country great today.”
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Drawing on festivals of the previous two centuries – the 1851 Great Exhibition and 1951’s Festival of Britain – Jacob Rees-Mogg soon coined it the festival of Brexit.
Four years and two rebrandings later, the management of the £120m festival is being investigated. About 240,000 visitors are reported to have visited events, in contrast to an early target of 66 million.
The Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee called for the investigation last month after finding Unboxed an “irresponsible use of public money.” The planning was described as a “recipe for failure”.
Last week, @GALWAD22 brought together a 200-strong team of Wales’ boldest creative talent to tell a story through blended live performance and TV drama across digital and broadcast platforms imagining what life could be like in 2052 📺📱
Watch here ➡️ https://t.co/6GRBFLLQJx pic.twitter.com/RADz1oQOSt
— unboxed2022 (@unboxed2022) October 9, 2022
Julian Knight, the Conservative MP and chairman of the cross-party committee said: “That such an exorbitant amount of public cash has been spent on a so-called celebration of creativity that has barely failed to register in the public consciousness raises serious red flags about how the project has been managed from conception through to delivery.”
Festival organisers have hit back, however. A spokesperson for the festival said that the reported figure of 240,000 visitors failed to represent public engagement properly.
“Unboxed’s art, science and tech commissions have been presented in over 100 towns, cities and villages, engaged millions across live and digital and employed thousands of creatives around the UK,” the spokesperson said.
DCMS revealed the government also did not agree with the select committee’s views. “[Unboxed] helped open access to arts and culture across the country,” a spokesperson said, adding that over 4 million people had “engaged” with Unboxed’s programming so far.
