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Major changes for ACE
Dateline: 22nd July, 2001
An important announcement from the Arts Council of England:
ARTS COUNCIL UNVEILS BLUEPRINT FOR NEW ARTS FUNDING ORGANISATION
16 July 2001
The Arts Council of England today published radical plans for a new national arts funding and development organisation.
The new organisation will combine the Arts Council and the 10 Regional Arts Boards (RABs). It will deliver a number of benefits: greater leadership and authority regionally and nationally; greater financial flexibility and capacity to respond to artistic ambition regionally and nationally; less red tape and greater simplicity for artists; and a strengthened voice in making the case for the arts.
The reforms will reduce costs substantially, leading to savings of between £8 million and £10 million a year from the £36 million* operating costs. Savings will be redirected to the arts.
The new organisation will have nine powerful regional offices. Each region will have a council with increased decision making powers. Working in partnership with local authorities and other regional agencies, the regional offices will play a leadership role regionally and will have responsibility for all regularly funded arts organisations and for direct contact with artists in their area. More funding will be decided regionally than is now the case.
The organisation will have a national strategic office, with a staff of between 70 to 80 people. The national office will provide national co-ordination, overview and national leadership in the arts. It will work exclusively at a national level.
Cross-organisation services, such as IT and finance, will be grouped and may be based outside London.
The chairs of the regional councils will sit on the national council of the new organisation. Local authority and regional government representation on the regional councils will be strengthened.
Arts Council Chairman, Gerry Robinson, commented: "We want to achieve what is best for the arts. These reforms to the arts funding system will deliver a more effective and streamlined service for artists and arts organisations. The reforms will also mean that up to £10 million that is currently spent on managing the arts will be spent each year on the arts themselves.
"For artists the reforms will mean more money and a simpler way of getting support. For the regions it will mean more power and a greater say in national policy."
Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, added:
"The creation of a single arts funding and development organisation will build on the many strengths of both the Arts Council and the RABs. It will deliver an organisation with an equilibrium between regional determination and national leadership."
* The £36 million operating costs for the Arts Council of England and
the 10 Regional Arts Boards collectively relates to the financial year
2000/2001.
Both Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, and Arts Minister Baroness Blackstone have given their support to the proposals.
On the next pages, we'll take a more detailed look at the proposals.
Outline
Next : The
Regional Councils
The Local Authorities
The Regions
Funding
Conclusions and Comment
Articles Indices:
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
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