Escalator East to Edinburgh
Escalator, an initiative showcasing some of the east of England’s best new performers and companies, took 21 productions and over 100 artists to this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Combined arts policy
Our policy summarises the context for combined arts and the Arts Council's role. It sets out our vision for combined arts and the priorities we have set to help us deliver it. Our ambition is to support work that grows to meet the needs and aspirations of a changing Britain.
Combined arts organisations champion innovative, accessible and inspiring ways to bring art to people.
Combined arts encompasses a range of organisations that work across multiple artforms to achieve their aims, including festivals, carnival, arts centres and presenting venues, rural touring circuits and agencies.
It also includes artists, producers and companies that create truly multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary work, carnival, celebratory and participatory arts.
Combined arts practice increasingly reflects the way many artists want to work and audiences want to engage. Our aim is to support high-quality work and organisations that truly connect with an audience.
Combined arts also refers to artistic practice which does not fit into a traditional arts context – it is genuinely multidisciplinary, mixing elements and processes from different artforms to create something new and distinct.
The majority of funding within the combined arts portfolio is given to organisations which present work (building-based or non-building-based). They underpin the development of all artforms and a wide range of audiences and participants. As they are not tied to a particular producing model they can be fleet of foot, adapting quickly to new trends and trying out new programming ideas.
The producing organisations within combined arts are mainly carnival and celebratory arts companies. These inspiring, ambitious artforms attract participants and spectators from across the social spectrum. We now fund the new UK Centre for Carnival Arts in Luton, and are a partner in the creation of Carnival Village in London.
Combined arts is not just about breadth – covering large geographical areas, attracting large outdoor audiences – it is also about depth: working intensively with groups of people to affect change.
We fund a range of community and participatory arts organisations and agencies whose work is helping to shape how people perceive and engage in art, and to develop the art itself.
