Arts debate

Learn about the findings from Arts Council England’s first ever public value inquiry!

What people want from the arts - a new report now available

The arts debate, Arts Council England’s first ever public value inquiry, ran from October 2006 to September 2007. It involved a number of stages of in-depth qualitative research as well as an open consultation. During that period we learned an enormous amount about how different people value the arts and their views on arts funding in England.

A new summary report, What people want from the arts, brings together everything you told us. The report is illustrated throughout with images and quotes from different stages of the research.

This illustrated summary complements an earlier, more detailed report on the arts debate findings, Public value and the arts in England: Discussion and conclusions of the arts debate, which is available on the summary & conclusions page. You can also access detailed findings from each stage of the inquiry on the research & consultation page.

Next steps

The early findings are informing the development of our corporate plan for 2008 to 2011. This will reflect our overall mission to enable everyone to experience arts that enrich their lives, and will focus on fostering excellence, innovation and widespread reach across a diversity of artistic practice and communities.

In 2008-09 we will be working to address some of the longer-term challenges. In particular we want to be clearer about the outcomes we seek to achieve and drawing more on the expertise and ideas of artists, arts organisations, members of the public and other stakeholders.

More details on our corporate plan and how we are responding to the longer-term challenges will be available on this website in 2008. In the meantime, we would like to thank everyone who has helped us by supporting or taking part in the debate. Your contribution is making a difference.


What people want from the arts

Click on the image to access a PDF (990Kb) of the new summary report, What people want from the arts

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