So, the public spending settlement for the arts is, we are led to believe, not as bad as it might have been (p1). One could make the same vaguely optimistic statement about pretty much any dire situation of course, so it is worth asking ourselves who are the instigators of these supposedly glad tidings. Step forward the DCMS and Arts Council England (ACE), whose outgoing Chief Executive Peter Hewitt has described the extra £50m he has been given by the Government as fantastic news as well he might, as it seems to secure the immediate future of the Arts Council. It would be churlish not to congratulate ACE for this very real achievement it is a lot of money, after all or to cast it in unduly sceptical light. Nonetheless, and as the cultural observer Paul Kelly has asked, "The question is no longer whether the Arts Council has a future but rather, on what terms? Does the extra money mean a continuation of current ACE policy or are there strings attached?"
Indeed, the appointment of DCMS apparatchik Alan Davey as ACEs new Chief Executive (see AP issue 155) does send out a mixed message. Exactly whose appointment is this: the Arts Councils or the DCMSs? If the answer is a) the Arts Council, then presumably Davey is thought of as an insider who knows how to get his hands on Treasury money. If the answer is b) the DCMS, then Daveys mission may have an entirely different agenda. And this is more than just idle speculation. What the new regime at ACE will be allowed to do with its £50m over the next three years will be interesting to watch. After all, there is not a penny in the Treasury pot that comes without a series of strings attached, and 50 million quid is an awful lot of pennies.
As for calling ACEs allocation from the spending review a settlement, despite what the Government would have us believe, nothing is really settled. Indeed this is only the beginning of a long journey for the arts sector, on a road that as the DCMS statement makes clear leads directly to the Olympics.
Nick Jordan
Editor
Is the recent public spending settlement good news for the arts?
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