Over the last three years, Arts Council England has invested around one billion pounds of public money attempting to fulfil its stated mission of "achieving great art for everyone".

While few would deny that the investment has led to the production of some important performances - from Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House to Romeo and Juliet at the RSC - but, as the Arts Council admits, still "only a minority of the population has much to do with the arts on a regular basis".

Will Gompertz, the BBC's arts editor, has been asking why.

Fady Elsayed, star of the new film My Brother the Devil, said he and his friends did not visit institutions such as the Royal Opera House or National Theatre.

"They definitely don't reach out to this sort of community," he said.

"They reach out to the more posh, upper class people to come and watch these performances. I think they should get it out to these youths and these communities, advertise it."

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