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Dateline: 12th January, 2011
ACE Invests in Action Research at Leeds Arts Council England is investing £1,466,000 of National Lottery funds in West Yorkshire Playhouse to help it to become a more resilient and confident business, able to develop new opportunities and explore new ways to create and present a range of excellent artistic work. This investment is one of a number of action research projects being conducted by the Arts Council to understand the most effective ways of using Lottery money to support arts organisations in developing new business models and income streams and become more sustainable. The Arts Council is investing in a small number of organisations who want to change the way they work and the funding will support organisational development, and refurbishment and improvement of existing arts premises. Lessons learned from these investments will be shared with the wider arts sector. The action research follows on from the Arts Council’s recession programme Sustain, which identified a need for this kind of tailored support. West Yorkshire Playhouse will receive £1,466,000 to implement a major change programme, which has been developed by the organisation. The programme touches on all aspects of the business model and organisational structure. The investment means that the Playhouse can employ sufficient resources to implement the changes while also protecting their artistic output and day-to-day operation. The award will help the Arts Council to assess how increased funding accelerates the implementation of an existing major organisational change programme, including the development of a new business model. It will also give an insight into the impact of these changes on the quality and consistency of an organisation’s artistic output. Cluny Macpherson, Regional Director, Arts Council England, commented, "Arts organisations are brilliant value for public investment and one of the Arts Council’s most important jobs is to help them to continuously improve. Organisations like West Yorkshire Playhouse need to develop new business models and ways of working so they can respond to and influence the changing environment in which they work. We want arts organisations across the country to be really strong businesses so they can continue to enrich all our lives. This research will help the Arts Council decide the most effective ways of helping organisations do just that." Ian Brown, Artistic Director of West Yorkshire Playhouse added, "We are being given the chance to look at every aspect of our business model and establish what currently works, and what needs revitalising, for what is certainly a leaner and more challenging cultural sector. This exercise can and will only make us a stronger and more determined producing theatre that the people of Leeds can be proud to have at the centre of their city." Other action research projects are taking place across the country. Learning from all the action research will be used alongside the Arts Council’s ten-year strategic framework for the arts, Achieving great art for everyone, to inform the shape and scope of the Arts Council’s future Lottery-funded support for organisational development and capital refurbishment.
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