Independent Review of Arts Council England published today
Arts Council England - an independent review by Baroness Margaret Hodge has been launched today and we are pleased to see alignment with a number of recommendations from the Growth Enquiry into the future of cultural investment in the West Midlands.
The Growth Enquiry was launched in Parliament in January 2025 and called for government, local authorities, cultural orgaate sector partners to take immediate, collective action to safeguard the future of the region’s cultural sector. The recommendations we made (in red below) are echoed in Baroness Hodge’s review of Arts Council England (in italics below) and we look forward to working with Arts Council England and wider stakeholders to deliver against these recommendations to create more opportunities through culture for the people and places of the West Midlands:
Resolve the immediate funding crisis in the cultural sector
Whilst recognising that the fiscal constraints limit the government’s ability to increase Grant in Aid funding for culture and the arts, the government can and must find innovative ways of responding urgently to the underfunding that has undermined the arts over the last decade:
Joint Cultural Needs Assessments
8. The government should consider creating a statutory duty for local government to prepare a cultural strategy every 5 years which should encompass the arts, culture, and heritage.
Artist Innovator Skills Programme
10. ACE should introduce a new National Programme for Individuals, using money from existing funding streams. The purpose would be to support emerging and mid-career individuals to ensure a diverse talent pool by providing individuals with funding of around £30,000 per year and mentoring support. The programme should be for individuals from low income backgrounds, under-represented groups and under-served areas. Up to 500 individuals could be supported from existing funding pots and the programme could be expanded through other sources of funding.
Creative Credit Scheme
11. The Department for Education, Department for Culture, Media & Sport and Arts Council England should consider working together on a specific project with philanthropists, trusts and foundations to create a joint fund that would support improvements to the cultural offer in schools. This would reinforce the excellent new proposals in the Curriculum Review and could contribute to the cost of training and paying for specialist teachers, and transport costs to visit theatres or museums.
A Regional Endowment for Culture:
3.8. The government should consider, when possible, creating a £250 million endowment fund for ACE that is structured in a way that levers philanthropic giving, with ACE raising £1 for every £1 they receive through the endowment. NESTA received a government endowment of £250 million, to invest in the arts and creative industries. NESTA has stopped funding the arts.
Read Arts Council England - an independent review by Baroness Margaret Hodge here.
Read Growth Enquiry into the future of cultural invesment in the West Midlands here.