Baroness Genista McIntosh has been appointed by Arts Council England (ACE) to undertake the ‘external eye’ review of ACE procedures promised in the wake of its recent funding review. The Labour peer, who formerly headed the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House, will begin work after Easter. She is expected to make her report and recommendations later in the summer. The idea of a review of ACE funding procedures was first mooted by Chief Executive, Alan Davey, on 1 February, when the organisation acknowledged that there were “matters arising from which ACE would learn in the future” (see AP163). He has now commented further on the process, saying, “it is important we now review that process in detail, establish what worked well and what improvements can be made next time”.
An ACE spokesperson told AP that the Baroness will be “looking at the whole of the investment strategy, from the beginning of the process in January 2007 when the National Council was presented with the investment strategy, right through to February [2008] when we made the announcement”. The review will cover the whole funding mechanism, including external and internal communications and the relationship between the national and regional offices. Communication with the arts sector will also be examined, as will ACE information and governance issues. The process will include interviews with Regularly Funded Organisation staff across the country, but the interviews will not be published in order to “preserve anonymity and privacy”. However, the Baroness’s findings and recommendations will be made public. She has declined to comment on the process at this stage.