Should Governments Invest in Public Art?
A complete IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 303 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
Some people believe that governments should invest significant amounts of public money in art for public spaces, such as sculptures, murals and free open-air performances. Others argue that this money would be better spent on essential services. Discuss the benefits and costs of government investment in public art and give your own opinion. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Discuss BOTH benefits and costs before giving your own view
- 02Use a concrete example (Medellin works well) to anchor the benefits
- 03Acknowledge the strongest counter-argument before responding to it
- 04Use varied discourse markers: 'in my view', 'I would argue, however'
- 05Avoid emotive language — public-art debates reward measured tone
- 06Make sure your conclusion takes a clear stance, not a neutral summary
Model answer
303 words in 5 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
Walk through almost any modern city and you will encounter a statue, mural or pop-up performance funded, at least in part, by the state. Whether this is a wise use of public money is genuinely contested. In my view, the benefits of carefully chosen public art comfortably outweigh the costs, provided spending is proportionate and accountable.
The strongest argument in favour is that public art shapes the everyday experience of citizens in a way that few other policies can. A well-placed mural can lift a tired neighbourhood, while free open-air concerts give families on low incomes access to culture they would otherwise be priced out of. Cities such as Medellin, where the local government commissioned major sculptures and outdoor escalators as part of urban regeneration, have shown that visible investment in beauty can reduce stigma and even crime. There are economic spillovers too: distinctive public art draws tourists, supports local hospitality, and gives commissioned artists a livelihood that is otherwise precarious.
Critics raise genuine concerns. Public art is rarely cheap — a single sculpture can cost as much as a small school refurbishment — and consultations are often dominated by louder voices, meaning that the resulting works do not always reflect the community paying for them. There is also a fair worry that, in a period of tight budgets, even modest cultural spending is hard to justify alongside under-funded hospitals or housing waiting lists.
I would argue, however, that these are arguments for better governance of public art, not its abolition. Spending caps, transparent juries that include local residents, and a clear obligation to maintain works once installed would resolve most of the legitimate objections.
In conclusion, government investment in public art produces social, civic and economic returns that justify its modest share of public budgets, as long as decisions are made openly and proportionately.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
12 more than the median answer for this task type
4 words at the shortest, 39 at the longest
1 fewer than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 23.3 words and vary by 8.6 words either side of that, running from 4 words to 39. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 10 of the 13 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
5 in total, spread across 4 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
however, while
such as
once
in conclusion
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 86 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 78 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 5 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Response
Cover benefits, costs and a clear opinion fully
Coherence & Cohesion
Balanced paragraphs with clear progression of ideas
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary for culture, urban policy and public finance
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Complex structures with high accuracy and natural style
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