"Art helps me imagine what it’s like to be someone else. There’s no us and them. It's us and us. It's all us."

"Nurturing the arts changes lives for good; the arts make us all more human. Funding is a crucial component, opening and ensuring access for all."

"I grew up listening to thrashy bands in a local community centre. I wouldn’t have called it ‘arts’ but without funding that venue wouldn’t exist."

"The arts contribute so much to our society and communities. Theatre, dance, music, good writing… they teach us about ourselves and the world around us. They give us joy. They are vital."

"The arts provide inspiration, provoke questions, and remind me daily what it is to be human in a busy and challenging world. They are somewhere where I can lose myself, yet never feel alone."

"The arts help us speak to each other nationally and internationally and they bring joy and humanity to us in dark times. Art is not an indulgence, it is a necessity, the lack of which has cost lives and shattered democracies, just as surely as its presence has saved lives and resisted autocracies."

"For me it’s simple: the arts help us to understand each other better."

"The arts envelop our lives with fresh prospect daily and help us to both reflect and participate, enriching each and every journey we take. "

"The arts remind me that I am human and that other people are too."

"There’s nothing quite like a brilliant piece of theatre or a knockout gig to take you out of yourself, make you think, make you feel. The arts help us live in colour."

"Growing up with many different types music all around me convinced me from my earliest days of the power of the arts to bring people together. We aren’t human without them."