Tempting though it may be to use this column to rant about the staff costs at Arts Council England (p3), it’s all been said before. A quick flick through the archive on the brand new ArtsProfessional website at http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk reveals this to be a broken record: see issues 90, 112 and 130 in the archive if you feel like re-playing it – or if you feel like letting off steam about it, or maybe even offering words of encouragement to ACE, then why not contribute to a debate in the discussion forum. The salaries of ACE’s senior executives give cause for a sharp intake of breath, of course. To find what senior executives in arts organisations are typically paid, visit the salary calculator in the Career Zone on our jobs website at http://www.artsjobfinder.co.uk and see the average pay for those at the coalface of the industry.
Peter Hewitt has always been quick to defend pay levels at ACE – in his recent interview with ArtsProfessional (AP issue 158), he stated categorically “I don’t think the Arts Council is overpaid; I do think there are parts of the arts world that are underpaid.” And he makes a very good point. Any ‘outrage’ at the amount of money going to top executives is primarily to do with the comparative levels of pay in the subsidised arts sector – well, perhaps also the fact that every penny ACE spends on itself is a penny less spent on impoverished artists. But would it really be of ‘strategic’ value to the arts sector for ACE to pay lower salaries? Probably not. If gaining Government recognition for the value of the arts to society requires ACE to pay salaries that reflect those of NGOs in other sectors, then so be it. Perhaps a more potent question might be, does ACE really need almost 900 people to do what it does? Well, having made crystal clear its commitment to rationalising its operations and cutting back staff numbers, ACE clearly thinks that it doesn’t and intends to do something about it. And guess what? ArtsProfessional will be looking very carefully at its next Annual Review to see if it might just deliver on its promises this time around.
Liz Hill