Arts Council policy statements reveal new emphasis on technology to increase access.
Trumpeted as a sign of a new way of working for the Arts Council, a set of policy documents covering individual artforms has been published by Arts Council England (ACE). The plans are linked by a focus on the potential for technological advances to increase access to the arts, including a dedicated policy which promotes new distribution models to provide access to the work we fund through different media. New policies were announced for combined arts, literature, dance, visual arts, music, interdisciplinary arts and theatre. All the policy documents are characterised by a shift in language with a fresh emphasis on business models and new ways of working. The policy on interdisciplinary arts promises to help build links between art and industry& [prioritising] emerging practice and new organisational models. Introducing the policies, ACE Chair, Sir Christopher Frayling, described them as the envelope in which our decisions will be taken over the next few years.
While they offer a broad perspective on ACEs approach to the major artforms over the next three years, several specific initiatives were also unveiled, including an interest- free loan scheme for musicians to purchase new instruments, an emphasis on continuing professional development for dancers, and a commitment to supporting theatres in efforts to open on Sundays. For the first time, street arts are placed in the foreground of ACEs theatre policy, which promises to &give particular emphasis to experimental practice, circus and street arts. Other specific initiatives include an action plan for festival development, promoting the role of dance in health, and further steps to address diversity issues in the publishing industry.
Launching the policies, Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of ACE, said, As well as being the first time that we have published a full set of arts policies, it is also the first time that we have made a policy statement on distribution. The distribution of art is not a new concept. While we must continue to develop traditional methods, we also need to harness new technologies to increase the publics access to the arts. Despite a claim in the interdisciplinary arts policy that ACE will prioritise initiatives that use technology to reach a wider audience, Hewitt emphasised that this focus on new technologies was in addition to the live experience and not at the expense of the live experience. He explained that ACEs role in promoting new technology would involve supporting and brokering partnerships between arts organisations and the commercial sector, including regional collaborations and, as such, would not involve a shift of resources from ACEs traditional support for individual artforms and for touring. He added, Touring is at the heart of what we do [but] theres more to it than moving people and objects around the country.