Response to ACE consultation
The Crafts Council has responded to Arts Council England's consultation document on its proposed 10-year plan, Achieving Great Art for Everyone.
Our response broadly welcomes ACE’s proposed priorities and vision for the arts and makes the following points:
- We propose that ACE takes a leading role in making the link between the arts and the creative industries and also argue for it to take a stronger leadership role in promoting the arts beyond the cultural sector, notably in higher education.
- ACE should use its knowledge of which art forms have relatively under-developed infrastructures to prioritise investment in these areas in any future capital programme, while bearing in mind that venues are no longer the only producers – the picture is now much more varied in terms of production.
- Our response agrees that digital technology will continue to develop as a key part of our future landscape without replacing tangible, authentic, excellent cultural experiences. In particular, it will be a key factor in democratising culture. We propose that ACE has a leadership role in developing the benefits (reach/diversity) and resolving the issues (IP/ artistic integrity) that this involves.
- We encourage ACE to extend its influence by working with partner organisations and networks to maximise leverage, and to indicate how it sees the relationship of the cultural sector with other government departments throughout the life of this new framework. Our response proposes that this could include working with partner organisations on research.
- We argue that ACE should consider the balance between funding artists itself and achieving greater reach by funding the networks and organisations that support artists’ professional development, in both practice and business, and through the creation of opportunities.
- We suggest that ACE should further develop and clarify its international “offer” alongside the British Council and UKTI. Similarly, how it will work regionally in view of its own new organisational structure and the potential changes in other regional structures post election. We think that the principles of civil society are becoming increasingly important and ACE should consider how it contributes in this way.
- We encourage ACE to press for more diverse entry routes into the sector, and emphasise the importance of promoting engagement with the arts in schools, of increasing participation opportunities for an aging population, and of diversity of product in promoting engagement.
- Finally, we suggest there is a need for a much wider debate about what sustainability (i.e. climate change) will mean for arts organisations, their programmes and ways of working.
For full details about the consultation you can visit the Arts Council’s website here
