Ever since the abolition of the Regional Arts Boards was announced back in 2001, questions have been raised over the respective roles of the national and regional offices of Englands Arts Council. The proposed slimming of ACEs HQ (p1) may not only help to draw a line under an era of speculation and confusion, but also help the organisation to relate better to its Whitehall masters and be better understood by them. ACE has always had a difficult line to tread supporting, leading and listening to the arts community on the one hand while presenting a case to the Whitehall suits on the other, and it is always at risk of losing credibility with one or other of these constituencies.
The new system will have to continue to walk that line, recognising that its not going to be able to please all the people all the time. Peter Hewitt (who has led from the front in sculpting the changes) has declared that the new organisation has been designed with advocacy in mind. With what promises to be one of the toughest Government spending rounds in a decade coming up, all who believe in the value of Government arts funding (and whose jobs depend upon it) will hope the new organisation lives up to this billing. The new structure, which appears to do away with the relative autonomy and influence of individual artform departments (and by implication perhaps some of their expertise) may be one that civil servants find easier to get their heads around. And it is not only artists and mandarins that ACE must try to please: the views of the public must also loom large on its radar. Speaking at the launch of John Holdens new book (see p9), Arts Minister David Lammy said there was a need for ACE to engage better with the public over arts spending to avoid what he referred to as a studied indifference to public wishes, and to become renowned for [its] relationship with the public, not [its] distance from them. As ACE seeks to speak the language of the Treasury as well as that of the man or woman on the street, lets hope that a sensitivity and appreciation of the needs, ambitions and aspirations of artists doesnt get lost in the translation.
Liz Hill and Brian Whitehead, Co-editors