Arts Council England set for overhaul after criticism of funding ‘straitjacket’ | UK News

Cultural funding in England should be overhauled to give more power to the regions and scrap a controversial policy that critics say sidelined artistic excellence, according to a major review of Arts Council England.

The government commissioned former minister Dame Margaret Hodge to examine the activities of Arts Council England (ACE), which distributes more than £680m a year.

She recommended that ACE should survive but that there should be new local and regional decision-making boards to decide on funding for local arts organisations.

And she suggested replacing the contentious Let’s Create strategy, which she said was widely seen as a straitjacket, “stifling artistic innovation and creativity”.

“People felt that ACE was pursuing access to culture in an instrumentalist way and had lowered the priority given to the pursuit of artistic excellence. Art and excellence were sidelined,” Dame Margaret wrote.

Venues and arts organisations also felt they “had to tick all the ACE boxes” to get funding, rather than explaining their artistic ambitions, she said.

Let’s Create was billed by the Arts Council as widening access to culture and cultural funding, but was seen by many as supporting grassroots and community work over artists who are at the top of their fields.

Earlier this year, London classical music venue Wigmore Hall quit the annual funding system, calling it “crippling”.

On Tuesday, Wigmore Hall director John Gilhooly said: “This most welcome report vindicates what many of us have been telling the ACE privately for years.

“We went public with these concerns too, and the report mentions these genuine problems.

“ACE must listen, and I urge the government to take on all the recommendations in full. The ACE is meant to be champion of the arts, not our school master.”

In response to the report, ACE said it was “heartened to read of the ‘overwhelming’ backing for the principles – of excellence and access – that underpin our strategy, Let’s Create”.

“And we’re encouraged and energised by the review’s recommendations to go further in our support for artists, to search for new sources of funding for the arts, and to do more to grow the cultural offer for audiences, particularly in places that historically have been underserved.

“We also appreciate its unambiguous endorsement of the value of the Arts Council, and its strong backing for the Arm’s Length Principle.

“But we have heard clearly that we have been too ‘prescriptive’ in how we implement Let’s Create.

“We recognise that we must give our artists and organisations more space to articulate their ambition, and that we need to reduce the administrative burden we have placed on them.”

It has already begun to simplify its application and monitoring processes, “but we know that we must do more, more quickly”, a spokesperson said.

“We are committed to using the review’s findings to improve, so that we can better meet the needs of the people we serve.”

In the future, decisions about funding for arts organisations of national and international significance should be made by a national panel, but other funding should be handed out by local boards to strenghten “the regional voice in decision-making”, Dame Margaret said.

She also said there was particular criticism of the Arts Council’s strategy from the music and opera sectors.

“Nobody could understand why both the Welsh National Opera and Glyndebourne lost their funding for touring at the same time as the funding for English National Opera was cut,” she wrote.

In summary, Dame Margaret said the Arts Council England “remains a vital national body” and that her recommendations would “help to lay the ground for a vibrant, robust and successful cultural sector for the next decade”.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy welcomed the review, which she said “challenges us to do better”.

“It sets out recommendations to strengthen support for artists, reach communities more effectively, and ensure that creativity is accessible to all,” she said.

A full government response will be published in the New Year.