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Dateline:
7th April, 2002
An Important Announcement from ACE
In one of the most significant developments in its fifty six-year history,
the Arts Council of England (ACE) announced today (Tuesday, 2nd April)
that it has merged with the ten Regional Arts Boards (RABs) to form
a new arts funding and development organisation for England. The legal
merger took place on 1 April.
The new body has nine regional offices, matching the Government's regional
boundaries, and a national office. Each region will have a Council with
increased decision-making powers, and the 15-strong National Council
will include the chair of each of the new Regional Councils.
The single organisation has been formed to deliver a number of benefits:
- greater leadership for the arts
- greater financial flexibility and capacity to respond to artistic
ambition
- less red tape and greater simplicity for artists
- a strengthened voice in making the case for the arts
Gerry Robinson, Chair of the new organisation, said:
'I am delighted that we have now joined with the Regional Arts Boards
to provide the arts in England with a stronger, more effective funding
and development body. Over the last year, an immense amount of work
has gone into achieving a single organisation that will be able to
deliver efficiency and simplicity for artists and arts organisations.
I would like to pay tribute to the immense achievements of the Regional
Arts Board network. Our firm intention is now to build on the very
best of the Arts Council of England and the Regional Arts Boards,
to create something even stronger for the arts in England.'
Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of the new organisation, said:
'This is not structural change for the sake of structural change.
It is about repositioning the arts in this country by ensuring that
the main funding and support body - the Arts Council of England with
the Regional Arts Boards - delivers greater profile, clout, recognition
and resources for artists throughout England. That is our ambition
and that is what we will deliver.'
The national and regional offices will continue to work under their
existing Arts Council and Regional Arts Board names and in the same
premises while further work is carried out on future structure and identity.
Notes
The Arts Council of England is the national body for the arts, responsible
for policy, research and advocacy. Created in 1946 as the Arts Council
of Great Britain. It became the Arts Council of England in 1994. It
receives grant-in-aid funding (£252 million in 2001/2 rising to
£337 million in 2003/4) from the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport, to develop, sustain and promote the arts, and is also a distributor
of money raised through the National Lottery. The funding for arts organisations
and artists has been made both directly and through funding to the Regional
Arts Boards.
Gerry Robinson will chair the new organisation supported by a National
Council, the membership of which will be announced by the Secretary
of State in May. Once the National Council has been appointed, those
members who are also serving as Chairs of the nine Regional Councils
will take part in the recruitment of Regional Council members. The announcement
of those members is expected to take place in late spring.
The Executive Board of the new organisation will be made up of the
Chief Executive, Peter Hewitt, the existing nine Regional Executive
Directors (see below) and the Executive Directors of the National Office.
The senior management structure of the National Office will be developed
over the coming few months. In the meantime, the current Arts Council
Executive Directors will act as Interim Directors.
Executive Board membership
Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive
Andrea Stark, Regional Executive Director, East of England
Laura Dyer, Regional Executive Director, East Midlands
Nigel Pittman, Interim Regional Executive Director, London
Andrew Dixon, Regional Executive Director, Northern
Michael Eakin, Regional Executive Director, North West
Felicity Harvest, Regional Executive Director, Southern and South
East
Nick Capaldi, Regional Executive Director, South West
Sally Luton, Regional Executive Director, West Midlands
Andy Carver, Regional Executive Director, Yorkshire
Kim Evans, Executive Director of Arts *
Wendy Andrews, Executive Director of Communications *
Keith Harrison, Acting Executive Director of Finance and Resources*
Pauline Tambling, Executive Director of Research and Development *
#
* ACE Executive Team members are interim members of
Executive Board pending announcements about future structures in the
summer
# Pauline Tambling is currently seconded as Programme Director to
the Programme Management Team.
Addresses
and Contacts
Index
A-F
Index G-K
Index L-Q
Index R-Z
News
Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive
Please note that all three Archive
indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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