Arts debate

Arts community and stakeholder research now available

A full report on the major qualitative exploration among the arts sector and the Arts Council’s wider stakeholder community is now available to download from the arts debate website. The report, completed by research agency Cragg Ross Dawson, is entitled The Arts Debate: Research among stakeholders, umbrella groups and members of the arts community. 

The report summarises the findings from 79 interviews and group discussions with a diverse sample of individuals and organisations, including artists, arts managers, producers, funders, sponsors, commissioners and local and regional bodies. It provides a wealth of information on how those working in or close to the arts perceive the value of their work, their priorities for public funding of the arts and their views of the Arts Council.

Next steps
This research has helped us identify points of consensus as well as some conflicting desires and priorities among the different groups that the Arts Council seeks to serve. The next stage of the arts debate was a programme of deliberative research, where members of the public and arts professionals came together to debate key issues in depth and work to develop some shared principles for public funding of the arts. We will be back in touch to bring you the results of this research in autumn 2007, and will be publishing detailed findings and conclusions from all the research and consultation towards the end of the year on the arts debate research findings page.