NPO decisions: ACE promises 'flexible' funding terms

Funding terms for organisations making up the new National Portfolio could be relaxed to help them deal with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, ACE chief executive Darren Henley has said.

Speaking to ArtsProfessional following last Friday's (4 November) NPO announcement, Henley said ACE recognises the pressures faced by arts and cultural organisations and will take them into consideration during negotiations on final conditions.

Under government plans set out in September, struggling theatres, museums, galleries and music venues will be among non-domestic settings receiving government support with energy bills for an initial six-month period.

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But there are concerns that, even with energy bill support, many organisations will struggle.

Following last week's offer of funding to 990 organisations making up the new National Portfolio, applicants will now have until the end of February 2023 to agree the precise terms and conditions of the funding.

Henley told ArtsProfessional that ACE will be "flexible" in relation to contractual requirements in light of the cost-of-living crisis.

'Real challenges'

"There are real challenges on an economic basis and we completely hear that and are aware of that," he said.

"For all of the organisations that we have announced our funding agreements with, we will be negotiating those agreements over the next few months and we will be saying: 'what's the right amount of work you'll be doing for the money that's available?'"

"So we will be flexible, we will understand some of the pressures people have."

Henley added that a significant amount of time has passed since the applications were initially made.

"I'm very conscious that some of those applications were written at the beginning of this calendar year," he said. 

"So it's an opportunity for us to just make sure that they are the best possible for audiences and participants but also with one eye on making them work as best as we possibly can for the organisations too."

Funding shake-up

Henley rejected suggestions that the existing funding system for arts and culture needs to be changed to ensure grassroots organisations do not miss out, as mooted by the DCMS select committee.

A report by the committee warned that the overall decline in investment for arts and culture has impacted the accessibility of funding, particularly for grassroots and local organisations. They want to see large organisations categorised and allocated funding separately from local and regional cultural institutions in the future.

But Henley argued that the existing funding system already delivers a "really rich ecology". 

"If you look at the [new] portfolio, you've got an organisation the size of the Royal Opera House getting more than £22m, but then you've got some very small organisations around the country as well," he said.

"I think that works very well. I have been doing this job now for nearly eight years and I've spent a lot of time out around the country and I think there's something very important about being a National Portfolio organisation. 

"When I talk to people they want National Portfolio Organisations in their places. I believe all of the organisations we fund up and down the country are nationally significant and that's why we have funded them. 

"Sure, there is different scale and different amounts and certain artforms cost more money than other artforms, and certain organisations will have higher numbers of employees. But I think it's important we have that sort of quality across the piece.

"When you look at this portfolio - anybody looking at it would see that rich ecology. 

"All the decisions we have taken are about taking really high quality work to people across the country. 

"I would reject the idea that only certain organisations of certain scale are nationally significant. I believe that every organisation we have got in this portfolio has a major significance."

Announcement delay

Henley also addressed concerns around the NPO announcement being delayed, making clear that government had no influence over funding decisions.

Details of the National Portfolio had been due to be unveiled on Wednesday 26 October, but the event was 'paused' the day before and later rescheduled for Friday (4 November), leading to commentators questioning the arm's-length nature of ACE.

"All of the revenue we get at the Arts Council comes from taxpayers' money or from National Lottery players' money and, of course, all governments of the day since the Arts Council started are interested [in how that money is invested].

"But to be completely clear, all the decisions we took in funding this portfolio were taken by our area councils and our national council. No decisions were influenced or changed by anyone else. This process has been done completely independently.

However, Henley was less unequivocal when asked if there was any influence or pressure from DCMS to delay the date.

"We took the decision to delay the event talking to DCMS. It wasn't entirely clear in terms of government and who was in there in terms of Secretary of State even the Prime Minister. 

"So we wanted to make sure we had a clear run to be able to bring these announcements out. But the announcements didn't change one iota in that 10-day delay period."