An enquiry into public attitudes to the arts, designed to inform future funding decisions, will take place this autumn. Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of Arts Council England (ACE), formally announced the enquiry, a feature of ACEs business plan (AP 124, 19 June), at a lecture on public engagement with the arts. Acknowledging that ACE had never previously consulted with the public, he emphasised the enquiry would not be a crude vote on the kind of art that should or should not be funded but would focus instead on the tensions& between artistic excellence and public accountability, between producer and consumer interests, between preserving the canon and seeding the new.
He expressed the hope that the enquiry, tenders for which are currently being reviewed, would develop new forms of engagement, maybe some new priorities and a route map for how the Arts Council and the arts might need to be different in the medium to long term.