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Fears are mounting that a renewed era of financial instability for the arts could undo the progress in audience development and artistic creativity that has been made over the last four years. Arts Council England (ACE) has expressed concern that this summer?s spending review could see a shift in focus, with increased funding being directed to the museums and heritage sector at the expense of performing arts.

Final jockeying for favour with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and indirectly with the Treasury, has been going on through the spring and final spending announcements are expected in the next three weeks. The review will finalise government spending plans and performance indicators until Spring 2008. Describing it as a ?fingers crossed moment?, a spokesman for ACE said, ?There are a number of pressures on the DCMS and the implication has been made that it is the museums? turn. In meeting the legitimate concerns of the museums sector, it is possible that the arts will lose out. We feel it shouldn?t be seen as an either/or.? He added ?Financial uncertainty introduces caution and reduces ambition. This impacts on the ways organisations can innovate and the number of people they can attract.?

Recently released figures documenting the impact of the New Audiences Programme, a five-year ACE audience development initiative backed with £20m of direct investment from the DCMS, are being used to strengthen the argument in favour of sustained funding increases. Research indicates that the number of arts attenders has increased by over 800,000 since 2001. Final data for 2003/2004 reveal that 15,249,000 people attended at least two arts events over the course of the year, an increase of 811,100 on the 2001 baseline figure. This exceeded the government?s target of an increase of 500,000 over this period.

The final report on the New Audiences Programme acknowledges that it has ?yielded many insights into how organisations work [and] provided many different models for arts and audience development.? However, it has also raised important questions. According to the report, ?Gaps in the audience development and skills base of the arts sector were apparent throughout the programme. Issues that need to be addressed include knowledge of good practice, access to training and advice, and support for organisations in effecting change.? The programme has led to the establishment of the Audience Development Department at ACE and what is referred to as a ?library of knowledge? which is being used to continue partnerships and inform ACE?s Grants for the Arts funding scheme. Sir Christopher Frayling, ACE Chairman, said, ?Our main challenge now is to build on this success by applying the lessons of the New Audiences Programme as widely as possible and making sure that artists and arts organisations have the support they need to reach out to even more people in even more places.?

The full New Audiences report with details of projects, case studies, models and strategies, is available to download from http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/newaudiences