The Empty Space

Arts Council England (ACE) has spent the best part of a year reviewing its organisational structure, and the process is still not finished (p1). With 20% of staff destined to lose their jobs, one can only guess at the low levels of motivation and productivity. So what is the consequence of England’s national funding body for the arts taking such a spectacularly long time to consider how to deliver, rather than what? In essence, ACE is running the risk of becoming peripheral – little more than an ATM with high overheads. While Scotland (AP196) and Wales (AP197) take advantage of devolution to make bold decisions about national arts policy and funding, grasping the opportunity to both shape and respond to changes in society, arts organisations in England appear not to be looking to their own arts council for cultural leadership. Instead, they are getting their fresh thinking and challenge from each other, and from people and organisations outside of ACE.
‘Expressive Lives’ (AP198) from the think-tank Demos eloquently argues that the role of arts professionals has fundamentally shifted from providing products to enabling engagement and participation. This is a view shared by those working in the sector, such as Dick Penny at Watershed Media Centre (p11) who argues that their role is to provide “a bridge between art and audiences”, and Dave Moutrey at the Cornerhouse (p7) who is contemplating “abandoning the whole notion of having a programme”. In order to have the “better-focused service” and “credibility” it says it desires, ACE needs to use its new organisational structure to both acknowledge this paradigm shift and demonstrate how it is going to lead the sector in this new world, rather than get dragged along. John Matthews (p4) says that looking at ACE as a champion of public entitlement gives merit to the idea of merging with the MLA. Missions Models Money is also describing the challenges for the sector, and seeking to provide solutions collaboratively through ERA21 (AP181), a coalition of the industry-lead bodies, that aims to “reinvent the architecture of contemporary arts policy and funding”. ERA21 only came about because of sector despair with the chaos surrounding ACE funding decisions in 2007/08 (AP160, AP162 and AP163). While there are individuals within ACE contributing expertise to the sector (eg digital opportunities, p3), the potential of the ‘empty space’ can only be realised with clarity and vision from the top.