Arts Council Englands (ACE) plans to drop its partnership agreements with local authorities have been greeted with a storm of protest from local authority arts officers anxious that the move will jeopardise local authority arts investment. ACEs new Vibrant Communities agenda, which is due to be introduced next year, will prioritise specific areas around the country for ACE investment in an attempt to make regional interventions more focused and strategic.
Currently ACE operates partnership agreements with all local authorities, matching their contribution to support shared strategic objectives. These partnerships evolved from the subscription contributions historically made by local authorities to Regional Arts Boards (RAB) until 2003 and the subsequent merger of the RABs with the Arts Council. It is estimated that local authority subscription payments totalled £3.2m at the point of the merger. Local authority arts officers have expressed concerns that when the ACE partnership funding is removed, some local authorities will see it as an opportunity to disinvest in the arts. nalgao, the National Association of Local Government Arts Officers, has surveyed its members in an attempt to ascertain the impact of the proposed changes. Three-quarters of the local authorities that responded said that partnership agreements had been either essential or very important in retaining the previous subscription funding and two-thirds of local authority arts officers thought the funding allocated by their local authority through the partnership agreement would be at risk if ACE withdrew from the partnership. ACE has come in for considerable criticism for its failure to consult local authorities about the changes. Sue Isherwood, Chair of nalgao, said, nalgao members are deeply concerned about losing the universal partnerships& Funding is tight for local authorities too. While understandable, any move away from national coverage will have a detrimental effect on arts provision. Well be working with the Local Government Association and other partners to make these views clear and work with them on the retention of our valuable partnerships.
A spokesperson for ACE said, The purpose of the changes is to ensure that our joint working is focused on helping deliver our aims and objectives and in particular on developing vibrant communities across the country& We will continue to undertake partnership activity with local authorities and will utilise all the appropriate resources to do this whether it is grants for the arts, developmental funding or working through funded arts organisations. But funding decisions will be made on an initiative by initiative basis and will be for regional offices to decide in line with their plans.