‘Festival of Brexit’ met radically downgraded predictions for visitor numbers

At a cost of £116.8m to the taxpayer, it was hoped that the Unboxed science and arts festival would bring the UK together in a post-Brexit love-fest and enhance our international reputation – to “showcase what makes our country great today”.

The final evaluation has found that the festival, commissioned by Theresa May in 2018 and named a “festival of Brexit” by Jacob Rees-Mogg, brought together a fraction of the audiences initially hoped for. It nevertheless met later, radically downgraded predictions and delivered on its economic objectives.

From March to December 2022, 10 Unboxed commissions ran in 107 locations around the UK. In commissioning the events, emphasis was placed on live, highly accessible events that would reach a wide range of individuals and communities. Digital and broadcast activities were also prioritised.

Early “stretch” predictions of 66 million visitors to the festival were later scaled down to 9 million. In the event, 20.5 million people engaged with one of the Unboxed activities over the eight months, either in person, digitally or through broadcasts.

Slightly more than 2.7 million people went to a live event – 2 million in England, 300,000 in Northern Ireland, about 34,000 in Wales and 400,000 in Scotland.

More people engaged remotely – 15.86 million – either digitally or through broadcasts. But it has been pointed out that this number includes those watching a special edition of the BBC programme Countryfile, which included a 15-minute segment of content created by Unboxed. Countryfile has an average weekly audience of 6 million.

Education was another major plank of the festival’s raison d’etre. But just 1.73 million children, young people and family members engaged through its learning programme, the evaluation found. In terms of the key performance indictors set by Unboxed, however, the festival exceeded audience targets, which included education engagement figures.

Tour de Moon, a collection of moon-inspired ideas in Southampton, had just 190,109 visitors. Fewer than 61,000 of those were live interactions, with 1,112 people participating. It had no broadcast, print or learning engagements.

PoliNations, a “magical super-garden” planted in Birmingham, attracted just 186,487 people in total, with live audiences of 148,929. Only 985 children engaged with the garden educationally. This event, however, took place during the time of national mourning after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which affected audience figures.

Related: ‘Festival of Brexit’ visitor numbers fall short of expectations

The findings come after a review by the National Audit Office (NAO), the spending watchdog, last December. That review concluded that the festival failed to reach “public awareness” and achieve audience engagement targets.

It was the NAO who, after criticising the government’s business model, concluded that the full evaluation should be published “in the interests of transparency”.

Specifically, the watchdog pointed out that the government had claimed financial benefits of the festival without taking into consideration the costs incurred by the devolved administrations or the fact that £16.3m of VAT would be unrecoverable.

But the evaluation report found that ministers’ predictions that the UK economy would enjoy a £170m windfall as a result of the festival were met, with Unboxed delivering benefits to the UK economy of £175.5m.

The culture minister Stuart Andrew said: “Unboxed brought people across the UK together in a celebration of science, the arts and creativity, touching the lives of millions. I am pleased to see that this report shows the positive impact this programme had on individuals, communities and on the recovery of these important sectors from the pandemic.”