Both the current and the shadow culture secretaries explained their cultural policies at the State of the Arts Conference on 14 January. The event, jointly organised by Arts Council England (ACE) and the RSA brought together 500 delegates to “debate the value and purpose of the arts” (see p6). Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt (above right) said that, in pursuit of “an American philanthropy culture”, the Tories would offer large arts organisations five-year funding agreements in return for building up an endowment fund. He was unable to guarantee that funding would not be cut under a Conservative Government. Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw (above left) said he expected still to be in office next year, and claimed that, even with a standstill budget in the next spending review, culture spending would still be 83% higher than in 1997. ACE Chair Liz Forgan invited the sector to participate in a consultation on future priorities for the arts, which will feed into a new ten-year strategy to be published later this year.