Arts Council England's response to a potentially fraudulent funding application reveals a culture of deliberate secrecy that puts government departments to shame, says Mira Bar-Hillel.
Arts Council England receives £349 million a year direct from the taxpayer. Added to its income from the national Lottery it will have received nearly £3 billion over the five years of this Parliament. It employs 442 people, including Chief Executive Alan Davey (soon to become Controller of BBC Radio 3) who earns £157,636 pa, which is more than the Prime Minister and there are over a dozen grandly titled officials including ‘Director of International’. The ACE’s role is to hand out public money to worthy arts organisations in need and its rules are meant to ensure that this is what happens. Whenever its Government handout is cut, the luvvies’ outcry of ‘Philistines!’ is deafening.
There is, however, no way of finding out what happens to all of the £3 billion unless the ACE chooses to announce it. It does publish a spreadsheet of the organisations which receive between £40,000 and £2.5 million a year, but beyond that – nothing. Its culture of deliberate secrecy puts government departments to shame, and its disdain for openness and transparency is, to coin a phrase, a work of art... Keep reading on The Spectator
Arts Council England receives £349 million a year direct from the taxpayer. Added to its income from the national Lottery it will have received nearly £3 billion over the five years of this Parliament. It employs 442 people, including Chief Executive Alan Davey (soon to become Controller of BBC Radio 3) who earns £157,636 pa, which is more than the Prime Minister and there are over a dozen grandly titled officials including ‘Director of International’. The ACE’s role is to hand out public money to worthy arts organisations in need and its rules are meant to ensure that this is what happens. Whenever its Government handout is cut, the luvvies’ outcry of ‘Philistines!’ is deafening.
There is, however, no way of finding out what happens to all of the £3 billion unless the ACE chooses to announce it. It does publish a spreadsheet of the organisations which receive between £40,000 and £2.5 million a year, but beyond that – nothing. Its culture of deliberate secrecy puts government departments to shame, and its disdain for openness and transparency is, to coin a phrase, a work of art... Keep reading on The Spectator