A plea for the Government to release the arts from damaging levels of accountability was made by Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of England (ACE), in a major speech at the National Portrait Gallery last week.
Highlighting the range of ways that arts institutions contribute to the delivery of Government policy, Hewitt demanded recognition that art is often unmeasurable and untargettable, and warned that if support for the arts becomes too controlled and prescriptive, creativity will be killed off. He said “The whole point of creativity, as with all forms of innovation, is that it is impossible to know the outcome in advance. This can at times run counter to the instinct of policy makers in Government, and in funding bodies like ours, who in their keenness to uphold accountability are inclined to detailed targets, leading inevitably to micro management and, at its worst, the stifling of initiative and innovation. I say to them relax, let go, entrust.”
Hewitt's speech came less than a fortnight before England’s Regional Arts Boards are due to transfer their assets to ACE in preparation for the creation of a new national funding body. Referring to the reorganisation in his speech, he set out eight basic principles on which the new organisation will be built.
Meanwhile, in the regions, some of the practical details relating to the reorganisation are being resolved. During the transition period a new single region under the leadership of a Regional Executive Director is to be created to replace Southern Arts and South East Arts. The new organisation will continue to operate from the offices of the existing Regional Arts Boards in Winchester and Tunbridge Wells, though boundary changes mean that Southern Arts’ responsibility for Swindon, Wiltshire and South East Dorset will transfer to South West Arts. Southern Arts’ Acting Chief Executive Sarah Maxfield, appointed last week following the sudden departure of former Chief Executive Robert Hutchison, and South East Arts Chief Executive Felicity Harvest have declared themselves to be “united in their enthusiasm for the new structure”. In the north, the boundaries of the Regional Arts Boards are also to change, to mirror those of other regional agencies. Cumbria is to be transferred from Northern Arts to North West Arts Board and the High Peak of Derbyshire is to move from North West Arts Board to East Midlands Arts.
A transcript of Peter Hewitt’s speech, ‘Beyond Boundaries’ can be found at www.artscouncil.org.uk