When we think about what drives an economic recession, debt is often the first culprit that springs to mind. But there’s another, less-discussed force at play—one that is quietly shaping the way organisations across the UK arts, community media, and public sectors operate: asset hoarding.
Faced with persistent funding uncertainty, many organisations are funnelling their limited resources into reserves, preparing for worst-case scenarios like redundancy payments or future budget cuts. On paper, this seems like prudent risk management. In practice, it’s creating a ripple effect that is stifling creativity, collaboration, and opportunity—especially for freelancers, independent groups, and grassroots initiatives in community media and community arts.
This cautious approach, while understandable, is contributing to a wider problem. When organisations act defensively en masse, they exacerbate the very scarcity they fear, reinforcing recessionary pressures instead of alleviating them. It’s a classic case of the “herd mentality”: in trying to protect themselves, organisations unwittingly create systemic risks that harm the entire ecosystem.
In this post, we’ll explore how this trend is playing out in the UK arts, community media, and public sectors, its impact on freelancers and independents, and why shifting from a culture of hoarding to one of resource-sharing could be key to building a more resilient future.
Why Organisations Are Hoarding Assets
To understand why asset hoarding has become so prevalent, we need to consider the precarious financial environment that many organisations in the arts, community media, and public sectors face. With funding often delivered through short-term grants and contracts, there is little room for long-term planning. Add to this the ongoing expectation of budget cuts, and it’s no surprise that organisations are prioritising financial survival over anything else.
For many, this means building reserves to cover immediate liabilities, such as redundancy payments for staff, should the worst happen. While these actions may safeguard organisations in the short term, they also lock away resources that could otherwise be used for innovation, collaboration, and community engagement.
Recent data from the Centre for Cultural Value highlights just how deeply rooted this cautious mindset has become. Surveys of the UK public sector have shown a dramatic drop in confidence levels, with leaders expressing deep concern about their ability to navigate future funding challenges. This lack of confidence perpetuates the cycle of resource hoarding, as organisations focus inward, tightening their budgets and reducing external spending.
But this strategy has unintended consequences. Freelancers, independent creatives, grassroots media groups, and small-scale projects are often the first to feel the squeeze. Projects that might have been funded a few years ago are now postponed, scaled back, or cancelled entirely. The result? A stifled flow of ideas and opportunities, and a sector that becomes more insular at precisely the moment it needs to be outward-facing and collaborative.
Ripple Effects: Freelancers, Independents, and Community Media Feel the Pinch
The impact of asset hoarding extends far beyond organisational balance sheets—it’s hitting the people and activities that form the backbone of the UK’s creative and public sectors. Freelancers, independent creatives, grassroots initiatives in community media, and small project teams are bearing the brunt of this defensive strategy, often with devastating consequences.
With cash reserves tied up to cover future liabilities, organisations have less capacity to fund small-scale, experimental, or place-based projects. These projects are typically the lifeblood of innovation in the arts and community media sectors, offering freelancers and independents opportunities to collaborate, develop their practice, and sustain their livelihoods.
Instead, we’re seeing fewer calls for proposals, delayed commissioning processes, and an overall contraction in available work. For many freelancers and independent media makers, this means increased financial insecurity and a growing reliance on patchwork incomes or even exiting their profession altogether. The result isn’t just individual hardship—it’s the erosion of a vibrant ecosystem of ideas and skills that the sector depends on.
Take, for example, a grassroots arts organisation or a community media group that, in better times, might have funded a series of workshops or local media training programmes. Today, those funds are likely sitting in a reserve account, earmarked for potential redundancy payouts or rising overhead costs. Meanwhile, the freelance artists, independent producers, or local collaborators who would have led those projects are left with fewer opportunities to connect with audiences, develop new work, and sustain their practice.
This contraction of opportunity doesn’t just harm individuals; it weakens the sector as a whole. When freelancers, independent creatives, and community media initiatives are squeezed out, the sector loses the very diversity, flexibility, and innovation it needs to adapt to an uncertain future.
The Herd Mentality and Systemic Risks
The widespread practice of asset hoarding isn’t just an individual organisational issue—it’s a systemic problem. When one organisation stockpiles resources, it may seem like a reasonable response to uncertainty. But when this behaviour is repeated across an entire sector, it creates a ripple effect that amplifies scarcity and risk for everyone involved.
This is the essence of the herd mentality. Faced with the same challenges and uncertainties, organisations make similar defensive decisions, reinforcing a culture of caution and retreat. While each organisation seeks to protect itself, the collective result is a feedback loop of stagnation. Resources that could be fuelling creativity and collaboration are instead sitting idle, draining momentum from the sector at large.
Worse still, this behaviour can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. By hoarding resources, organisations contribute to the very conditions they fear—fewer projects, less collaboration, and a diminished sense of confidence in the sector’s future. Over time, this erodes trust between organisations and the freelancers, small groups, or community media practitioners that depend on them, deepening divisions and making it harder to rebuild the relationships needed for recovery.
The systemic risks of this approach are clear: a creative, public, and community media sector that becomes increasingly insular, risk-averse, and disconnected from the communities it serves. Without a shift in mindset, this pattern will continue to undermine the sector’s ability to adapt, innovate, and respond to future challenges.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. By embracing strategies that prioritise resource circulation and collaboration, the sector can break free from this cycle of scarcity and rebuild a foundation of resilience and trust.
Encouraging Resilience Through Resource Sharing
If the UK’s arts, community media, and public sectors are to break free from the cycle of resource hoarding and scarcity, a fundamental shift in mindset is needed—one that prioritises collaboration, trust, and resource-sharing over individual survival strategies.
The first step is recognising that financial reserves, while important, are not the only measure of resilience. True resilience comes from a sector that works together to share risks and opportunities. By pooling resources and collaborating across organisations, it’s possible to create a safety net that benefits the whole ecosystem, not just individual players.
Here are some practical steps to encourage this shift:
- Foster Collective Resource Pools: Organisations could establish shared funds to support smaller-scale, short-term projects. These funds would give freelancers, independents, and community media practitioners access to the resources they need to keep creating and innovating while spreading risk across multiple stakeholders.
- Advocate for Long-Term Funding Policies: Policymakers and funding bodies must move beyond short-term grant cycles and provide organisations with the stability needed to plan ahead. Long-term funding commitments can reduce the impulse to hoard and enable more meaningful collaboration.
- Commit to Collaborative Projects: Instead of focusing on individual organisational goals, funders and institutions could prioritise projects that actively involve freelancers, independents, and local communities. This ensures that resources are circulated where they’re needed most.
- Rebuild Trust and Relationships: A strong and resilient sector relies on trust between organisations, funders, and individuals. Open dialogue, transparency, and a willingness to experiment with new ways of working are essential for rebuilding this trust.
Ultimately, the solution lies in rewriting the narrative around financial stability and risk. By shifting from a mindset of individual protection to one of collective resilience, the UK’s arts, community media, and public sectors can not only weather the current storm but emerge stronger and more adaptable in the face of future challenges.
The question we must ask ourselves is this: Can we afford not to share?
Rewriting the Narrative
The current trend of asset hoarding in the UK’s arts, community media, and public sectors is a symptom of a broader challenge: how to navigate uncertainty without sacrificing the innovation and collaboration that sustain a vibrant, dynamic ecosystem. While it’s understandable that organisations want to protect themselves against future risks, this approach has unintended consequences—especially for freelancers, independents, and grassroots initiatives who are already operating on precarious margins.
The good news is that there’s an alternative. By embracing a mindset of resource-sharing, collaboration, and long-term thinking, we can shift from a culture of caution to one of resilience. This doesn’t mean ignoring the need for financial prudence—it means reimagining what resilience looks like and who it should serve.
The time has come for bold leadership and a willingness to break away from the herd mentality. By pooling resources, supporting freelancers, and fostering trust across the sector, we can ensure that the arts, community media, and public services remain a source of creativity, connection, and community strength.
The choice is clear: we can either let fear and scarcity dictate our actions, or we can work together to build a sector that’s as adaptable and resourceful as the people who shape it.