Arts debate

arts debate public consultation is now closed

11 May 2007 by Jo Saucek 0 comments

From 12 February to 11 May 2007 we offered everyone the opportunity to have their say on the value of the arts and the role of public funding through an open consultation. The arts debate public consultation is now closed. Thank you for all your contributions.

We've been really pleased to hear what everyone's had to say about the arts. Watch this short film to see some of the views we've met with.

We have had a fantastic response to the consultation; over 800 comments were posted on the online debate and we've received over 400 copies of the consultation response form. The research team is now analysing all of these responses, and will publish a report in the Autumn summarising the findings.

We have also been conducting in-depth research with the arts community and a wide range of our other stakeholders including artists and people working for arts organisations and representatives from local government, business and trusts and foundations. We will also be debating key issues further with members of the public through a programme of deliberation.

We will then bring together the findings of this additional research with what you had to tell us in the consultation.

This knowledge will provide the Arts Council with a much richer understanding of what’s valued by all the different communities we seek to serve. There will then be a period of in-depth analysis, where we apply this new understanding to our long-term direction. In collaboration with our Council (the governing body of the Arts Council), our senior executive team and our partners in the sector we will put together a long term plan for implementing the results, a summary of which will be published by the end of this year.

We have been really encouraged by the response to our online debate, and we want to keep debating the arts live online. This week we have three new debate topics open for discussion on the website.

Ken Turner, a frequent contributor to the website throughout the public consultation and an artist, gives his perspective of the Arts Council's agenda since the 60's, and tells us why '...funding needs dialogue, not rules.' Read the article here...

Andrew Nairne, Director of Modern Art Oxford, talks about how creating and maintaining meaningful public engagement with local communities is a key priority for his publicly funded organisation. Read the article here...

We're also featuring an article by photographer Richard Allnutt, who talks about how the power of photography helped him and others to come to terms with the recent Virginia Tech tragedy. Read the article here...

Why not sign up to an arts debate RSS feed and keep up to date with what the public think about the arts? If you've got something to say about the arts, come and say it at the arts debate!