One of the problems identified in the review of Arts Council England?s Grants for the Arts programme was the fact that many applicants overestimated their chances of success. Decisions on applications were inadequately explained and a cycle of dissatisfaction was created. Arts organisations were often left with the sense that funding was being granted on some unstated principle of which only those in the loop were made aware. Funding bodies are often in an invidious position: you can?t please all the people all the time and the perception of funding being about who you know, not what you can do, can, fairly or otherwise, become entrenched in the twitchy world of the arts. Given all this, Arts Council England?s (ACE) attempts to open up the Grants for the Arts scheme (p1), making criteria clear and uniform, and boosting accessibility, is good news.
Will the changes achieve these aims? Criteria are clearly stated and yet, with the one-size-fits-all structure of Grants for the Arts, where a major national theatre tour competes for funding with a children?s painting project in a village hall, the rules have to be left vague enough to catch all applications ? rendering them flimsy. In terms of boosting accessibility, ACE might have gone further. In a sign of the times, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has introduced online applications (p3), a move that other funding bodies must now surely follow. Additionally, Grants for the Arts must be advertised more widely (albeit this is something of a double edged sword for ACE ? oversubscribed as they are, do they, in their heart of hearts, actually want more applications and enquiries?) And finally, insisting that regularly funded organisations get written support from their lead officers before they apply for a grant is a condition with the potential for abuse. Lead officers will come under pressure from key clients to support applications and when applicants receive the support of their officer, they will surely feel their application is as good as in the bag.
Liz Hill and Brian Whitehead, Co-editors