Strategic partnerships between local authorities and arts funding bodies must be flavour of the month.
The Arts Council of Wales (ACW, p1) has drawn attention to the importance of its relationship with Wales? local authorities in its five year strategy; and Arts Council England has just issued a new publication outlining its vision for partnerships between local government and the arts, based on the outcomes of a national summit that took place last year. But there is an interesting difference in the approach to partnership envisaged by England and Wales. ACW has made a commitment to the joint funding of arts development posts, project work and arts organisations themselves. But in England, although fine words have been spoken about ?joint support for the basic infrastructure of the arts?, priorities for partnership are far less tangible; namely to support the creative economy, build healthy communities, create vital neighbourhoods and engage young people. This rather loose set of goals provides a useful get-out opportunity for those authorities that, as their funding from central government is squeezed, view their arts expenditure as a soft option for cuts. There?s no specific commitment by them to support arts organisations or activity, which, judging by the behaviour of some local authorities in recent weeks, is very fortunate for them. (And the latest? News reaches us that Worcester City Council, having withdrawn funding from the Swan Theatre, has now made its arts development post and accompanying budget redundant too). Clearly, whatever the rhetoric about partnerships between the arts funding system and local authorities in England, it would be foolhardy for anyone working in the arts to think that their future was secure under the ?new? collaborative vision. The ?Common Ground? identified in the vision for partnership between ACE and its local authority partners may prove a little too stony for comfort.
Published: 24-03-2003