Arts Council England wants a strategy for the next ten years that can vault over government change. ACE chief executive Alan Davey explains
The arts in England are in a good place right now. In the last 15 years they have flourished and there is now a genuine acceptance that they are a part of the fabric of our nation. We want to build on that strength and ensure that in ten years’ time the arts will continue to thrive and everybody will have access the very best of them.
That’s why earlier this month at the State of the arts conference, Arts Council England announced a consultation on a ten year framework for the arts – Achieving great art for everyone. This framework will set our priorities for the arts in England over the next decade – for our own work and for the cultural and social context in which it will take place. The framework will set out some clear directions, but it will also be flexible, allowing for necessary changes in the face of the unexpected.
This document – and the ten year framework which results from it – brings together for the first time all art forms and development areas into one set of long term priorities. We know that in order to deliver the conditions in which great art can flourish we must look beyond the publicly funded sector; that’s why it will also look at the views of everyone from the commercial, amateur and voluntary arts sector as well as audiences.
We want to arrive at a strong but flexible long term plan that sets a direction and vision for the arts that the whole sector shares, and which can forge ahead through any changes in political or financial climate.
In Achieving great art for everyone, we set out a vision that sees this country as a place for world-leading artistic excellence and innovation, and a great place for artists to live and work.
We see a country where everybody feels they can enjoy the best of the arts, engaging and participating in new ways, where the arts play a dynamic role at the heart of society, locally, nationally and internationally, where they drive the creative economy and have adapted to a low carbon future.
We envisage arts organisations as resilient, naturally collaborative and adaptable, recognising the benefits of thriving within a mixed economy of support.
However, the speed and scale of change today bring exceptional challenges and opportunities for artists and arts organisations, and for the Arts Council in enabling the arts to flourish. That’s why we need a map for the future. We know that collaboration is going to be critical to our sector in adapting to the changes ahead.
We want to see the arts sector working more intelligently together, and that is why the contribution of artists, arts organisations and partners to this consultation is not just welcome, but essential.
In Achieving great art for everyone we propose five long term goals that can drive our development work, inform our funding priorities and strengthen our relationships with artists, organisations and audiences. We believe our proposals on how we will achieve the goals - including our thinking on new, more flexible, funding programmes - will enable us to be more effective, and encourage a greater sense of shared purpose. However, the proposals are just that: a work in progress, into which your contribution is essential. We want to create a framework that everyone in the arts can get behind, and develop a set of goals that we all want to strive for.
Later in the year, drawing deeply from what we learn, we will publish our priorities for our next investment plan and a ten year strategic framework. We will set out our long term goals, our ambitions for each artform and new ways of working with our partners and the people we fund. It will make a real difference to how we work and how we make our investment decisions.
Our framework for the arts will be an important document not only for us, but for anyone interested in, or working in, the arts in England. It will give clear indicators of how we intend to achieve our mission but at its heart it will be about pushing artistic boundaries and giving artists and arts organisations the space to experiment and to create – to take their art forms forward with the sort of work that audiences new and old will want to experience.
Whether you look at it as a prescription for excellence, or an antidote for stagnation, our ten year framework is something that anyone involved in the arts in England should want to help shape.
The consultation document is on our website at www.artscouncil.org.uk/consultation
