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Who are they?

Who are they? 

Our National Council is made up of 15 members, who are also charitable trustees. The council includes our National Chair, Sir Nicholas Serota and the five chairs of our area councils. Members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, usually for four years and may be reappointed for a further term of four years. Each member is appointed because of their special interest in, or experience of, the arts as practicing artists or art administrators; as senior academics; or as public or private sector executives.

A collection of neon signs, designed to look like balloon model dogs.
Photo by Neon Dogs by Deepa Mann Kler, produced by Artichoke. Photo © Chris Hill / Artichoke.
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Sculpture of whale lit up at night
Photo by The Bristol Whales - Bristol Green Capital 2015
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What they do

What they do

Our National Council meets up to 10 times a year and are responsible for ensuring the achievement of our objectives, to develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts, and to increase the accessibility of the arts to the public.

The council decide on policy and priorities, and invest money in artists and art organisations directly and through the area councils. Its work is supplemented by standing committees that have different responsibilities and cover different aspects of the council’s work. Each standing committee answers to, and feeds directly back into the work of, National Council. 

The standing committees of National Council are as follows:

Terms of reference