Arts Council England

Skin, ACE Dance and MusicPhoto: Brian Slater

Thursday 11 June 2009

Laura Dyer, Executive DirectorCatherine Bunting, Director of Research

Regularly funded organisation briefing

To get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives.

Agenda

1. Action on recession

2. Context and scenarios: the spending review and investment strategy

3. Towards a national arts strategy

4. New processes for stronger relationships

5. Great art for everyone: participation campaign

6. The Arts Council’s organisation review

7. Annual submission online

8. Towards a national arts strategy: workshop

1. Action on recession

Action on recession

• £4 million cut in the Arts Council’s government funding for 2010/11 – savings to be found from existing and planned new projects

• we will continue to support innovation and focus on recovery

• we will invest public funding in the most strategic way into arts organisations

• we will be as flexible and supportive where plans are disrupted by the recession

Action on recession

• we will gather evidence, broker partnerships and disseminate good ideas and best practice

• regular research will help us to understand the whole, and changing, picture

• www.artscouncil.org.uk/actiononrecession

Sustain

• a £40 million, open application fund for organisations under pressure as a result of recession, to sustain artistic excellence in the recession

• funded from our Lottery income• a fixed-term two year programme (2009/10 and 2010/11) • one-off awards to cover 2009–2011

To address:• short-term needs (such as cash flow) • long-term sustainability

Sustain

Organisations making applications must:– be primarily focused on creating, producing and/or presenting art in

England and have registered charity or not for profit status

– have existed for at least three years

– estimate their 2009–2011 Sustain funding requirement and explain how they propose spending it

The following will not be eligible for awards:– local authorities

– umbrella organisations or consortia

– commercial organisations

– individual artists

Sustain

Sustain awards may be used for:– resolving immediate cash flow problems

– maintaining the quality of artistic output

– purchasing essential capital assets

– continuing education, community and audience development work

– completing building repairs and renewals

– developing necessary organisational capability

Sustain

Organisations will not be able to apply for– new building costs

– artistic projects

– additional funding for arts activity

– long-term revenue funding

Sustain is not intended to replace funds withdrawn from other funding bodies

Action on recession

• we are increasing our Grants for the arts budget from £52 million to £54 million in 2009/10 and to £56 million in 2010/11

• £500,000 ringfenced for the Town Centres Initiative – a fund to help artists carry out artistic activities in empty shops

• DWP funding for 150,000 new job opportunities in the creative industries

www.artscouncil.org.uk/actiononrecession

2. Context and scenarios

The spending review and investment strategy

• we will do everything we can to sustain long-term investment in the arts

• no timeline for the next spending review – it may not happen until after the general election

• we may not receive our funding allocation from Government until summer or autumn 2010

• National Council will take a decision on the timeline for the investment strategy in the summer– more information in the autumn or earlier

3. Towards a national arts strategy

Towards a national arts strategy

• until late 2009 we are bringing vision and focus to how best to work with artists and arts organisations to deliver great art for everyone

• we will discuss the future of the arts, our role in shaping it, and the most effective contribution we can make to support excellent, innovative, engaging, far-reaching and diverse practice in all artforms

Towards a national arts strategy

• this will bring together an analysis of data, evidence and knowledge – for example the Theatre Assessment and Dance Mapping.

• this will inform our priorities, strategies and investment decisions

• building on the arts debate, it will be informed by what our partners and publics want from Arts Council England

Towards a national arts strategy

• October 2009 and January 2010: we will consult with a broad range of stakeholders to help us shape our vision, goals and priorities

• consultation will be the start of an ongoing critical debate about the impact of great art and the role that we can play

• our future planning and decision-making will be empowered by a longer-term vision for the arts that is shared by the arts sector

Towards a national arts strategy: workshop

What do you perceive to be the single biggest priority that the Arts Council should address to achieve great art for everyone in the period 2011–2021?

• comments will inform the development of the national arts strategy, ahead of the formal consultation later this year

• feedback from discussions and our next steps will be circulated to everyone involved in briefing sessions across all regions

What do you perceive to be the single biggest priority that the Arts Council should address to achieve great art for everyone in the period 2011–2021?

4. New processes for stronger relationships

New processes for stronger relationships

• self-assessment and peer review consultation: a wide range of opinion in some areas and some strong consensus in other areas

• all responses will inform the proposals that we will announce later in the year

• the independent report is available from our website

What is clear now is that we need to: – be transparent about the purpose of all of our proposed new systems

– develop processes that are flexible and light on bureaucracy

– ensure there is proper quality assurance to safeguard organisations from unfair reviewing

New processes for stronger relationships

• artistic assessment by peers: pilots during April and May with regularly funded organisations in the south east and north west 

• feedback from the pilots will inform the national scheme• introduced from the beginning of next year• also, informal research into peer review that some

regularly funded organisations do already – this will help us to develop tools and signposts towards best practice

New processes for stronger relationships

• new criteria for regularly funded organisations: intended to describe the strategic framework we use to assess organisations for regular funding 

• during May representative and umbrella organisations,, and organisations who have recently become regularly funded, were asked to comment

• new criteria for regularly funded organisations to be published in the autumn

5. Great art for everyone: participation campaign

Great art for everyone: participation campaign

• over the period 2008–11, we are developing and delivering an ambitious national campaign to encourage the broadest range of people across England to enjoy artistic experiences

Campaign aims: – to kick-start an increase in engagement in the arts in England

– change the way a significant section of the nation thinks and feels about the arts

– leave a legacy of a long-term increase in arts engagement and participation

Great art for everyone: participation campaign

• creation of a campaign brand for arts organisations to sell themselves and the opportunities that they offer – a trusted arts brand that our audience will know, understand and respond to

• a new kind of website- an online and interactive 'arts hub' with information target audience needs to go on a journey into the arts

• a multimedia PR drive• major broadcast partnership

Great art for everyone: participation campaign

• a coordinated programme of high profile, high quality arts activities and events

• a wide-reaching series of commercial partnerships• partnership communications website at

www.helloart.org.uk to give users the opportunity to feedback, submit events and receive updates

• events in July will communicate the campaign to arts sector stakeholders

6. The Arts Council’s organisation review

The Arts Council’s organisation review

• we were asked by Government to reduce grant-in-aid administration costs by 15% by 2010–11.

• we decided that 15% savings should also be made on our National Lottery costs – a total of £6.5 million to go back into the arts.

• This is already factored into our budgets for 2010/11

The Arts Council’s organisation review

The key elements of our proposal are as follows:– a smaller head office – focused on strategy and support to frontline staff

– nine smaller regional offices – focused on frontline delivery, working with the organisations we fund, artists and other key partners

– regional offices grouped under four area executive directors

– a central Grants for the arts processing team – relieving regional offices of administrative burden and making grant-giving more fair

– a streamlined advocacy and communications team

– a smaller executive board (nine members) with a balance of regional knowledge and strategic overview

The Arts Council’s organisation review

• will bring a consistent approach to regional partners and ensure our advocacy for culture is more powerful

• the briefing paper is available from our website • an announcement about final decisions will be made in

mid-July, following a three-month consultation with staff and union

7. Annual submission online

Annual submission online

• online survey makes it easier and faster for us to report on what has been achieved as a result of funding

• allows us to monitor any 2008/09 objectives delivered through regularly funded organisations

• the survey will close on 29 June

• on 1 April 2009, we became a provider of official statistics

• the official statistics from the annual submission will be published on 1 September 2009

8. Research update

Research developments

• increasing pressure to measure and increase economic impact…

• …but ongoing recognition of the need for a broad understanding of value

• new research partnership with DCMS, English Heritage, the MLA and Sport England– systematically reviewing the participation literature

– building a new longitudinal dataset on arts engagement

– assessing regional research and evidence needs

Digital research

• ‘content snapshot’ of the online presence of RFOs• range from basic marketing sites to multi-platform

cultural institutions – with some stand-out examples• qualitative research to explore digital engagement with

the arts– anything can be ‘art’ in the digital space

– participation online still a niche activity

– desire for expertise and a trusted guide

Arts audiences and public value

• ongoing analysis of Taking Part and Active People, including new research on the impact of childhood engagement

• key challenge now is understanding the artistic experience itself

• public value remains core to the Arts Council’s work– Wider Range of Voices

– revisiting our values

– customer focus research

www.artscouncil.org.uk/researchwww.artscouncil.org.uk/audienceinsight

www.artsdebate.co.uk

Thank you

www.artscouncil.org.uk