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Has anyone out there been through the Theatre Review; an Arts for Everyone project bid; a Capital Lottery bid; the Fixed Term Funding Review; a Regional Arts Lottery Programme bid; a bid to the New Audiences Fund; a bid to the National Touring Programme and Local Government Reorganisation? asks Venu Dhupa.

All this against the background of emerging cultural strategies and a growing interest in the economic potential of the creative industries. If you?re still standing to take part in the debate on how the arts funding structures should be modified, then, like me, you surely must take your hat off to the Arts Council, which has seized the initiative and taken a decisive leadership role in suggesting a clear and workable way forward! They were shouted down for releasing a document without any detail and are now being shouted down for bringing a plan that is inflexible. It seems to me that the Arts Council wants to stimulate discussion and listen to a range of opinions on key aspects of a plan without having to start from scratch. Anyone who has managed a change process knows that you start with board brush and then work up the detail with partners.

Having observed the machinations around Year of the Artist and chaired the East Midlands Cultural Consortium, I am inclined to agree that, for 11 different legal entities to agree a strategic direction and consistency of operation, fully supported by appropriate expertise and without wasted time and effort, would be nigh on impossible. I believe a single organisation is the answer as long as there is a mechanism for addressing regional issues.

Thumbs up for?
Clear and shared core values
. This will underline why we receive investment and enable us to debate and communicate these values at national level with bodies from other sectors. Organisations are too often the servants of two (or more) masters who fund us for different reasons and who fail to compromise, with the consequence that funding packages collapse.

Clear and coherent priorities and greater integration. It?s confusing and time-consuming to deal with several different agendas at different points of the funding system. To discover that a ?client? in another region has been able to skate around issues and through processes it?s taken you months to sort out, breeds frustration and resentment.

A clear external focus, strategic vision and a single voice. This doesn?t dilute diversity, it champions the arts cause far more strongly than several bodies fighting or shouting for profile, status and resources.

To reduce bureaucracy and minimise regulation. Allow talented, experienced, trustworthy individuals to get on and create good work and support their entrepreneurial skills. My colleagues in the private sector are horrified by the levels of accountability that operate in the arts with no funds to buy in professionals for support. Those of us who were going to be Fixed Term Funded sighed with relief, until we found out that we had to make an application and deliver on new targets for the status and be reviewed on an annual basis. By the way, I?m not knocking the Regional Arts Boards? staff, who are drowning with the effort and bureaucracy themselves; chasing RALP applications across desks and regions springs to mind!

Common performance standards and removal of duplicated effort. We spend endless time and effort delivering statistics and information to different parts of the funding system in different configurations. Yet policy units tell us that we are failing to provide returns that allow useful analysis that indicate ways to progress. This can translate as ?the arts can?t justify the subsidy? for those who wish to make that case, and lets face it, that is hard enough to deal with already.

A single budget. It is critical that regional organisations can make exciting events happen, but at the moment this is impossible without support from the centre. For example, Nottingham Playhouse would like to host a European Theatre Festival in 2003, but it will require more resources than our current Arts Board has available. Nationally important events have to be planned, agreed and resourced nationally.

Officers with greater expertise and a more strategic role. We need advocates who can work on our behalf at high levels. We don?t need officers who would either like to be running venues themselves, or who spend all their time gathering information to reassure themselves that they know everything that?s going on in the venue - ?I?m an understanding parent who you can share your troubles with, because I know what you?re going through?.

Phone a Friend?

Certainly the Arts Council proposals include some dubious assumptions, like ?...the public, government and arts workers all want different things from the arts funding system.? And there are unclear terms, like ?...core city?, and ?Cultural Diversity?, which are open to interpretation. I?m glad there is no promise, only an indication, of where funds released by the savings would be directed; the regions need to have a say in this.

If there is to be greater responsibility and integration at regional, local and board level we need to ensure that we are resourced to enable the right expertise to be available at those levels. The arts can?t afford to come across as poor cousins. The Arts Council of England and its new Regional Councils must complement and support the developing regional structures. In my view, they need to be developing links with Development Agencies and Regional Assemblies by leading the way in the Cultural Consortiums, rather than trying to do everything directly. This would show true spirit of co-operation across the cultural sector.

We shouldn?t underestimate the ability of artists and arts organisations to handle change. We embrace change if it delivers tangible benefits. At the risk of sounding like Julie Burchill, we have to bear in mind that in the ?real world? it is only a tiny minority (many being those of us who work in the professional arts) that care about the ?HOW?? Most are concerned with the ?WHAT?? and ?FOR HOW MUCH?? If we are not careful we will, again, come across like a gaggle of ?arty farty? whingers, and miss the opportunity to take action to secure more resources and distribute them more effectively to artists and arts organisations. Come on, let?s get behind the Arts Council and give the support that?s needed to secure £200m from the treasury next time!


Venu Dhupa is Executive Director of Nottingham Playhouse t: 0115 947 4361