Arts Council England now represents arts, museums and libraries, having assumed some of the functions of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), on 1 October 2011.

Museums, libaries and archives on the Arts Council website

Principal responsibilities

Our aim is to build on the successes of the past while looking with ambition to the future for all the sectors we now represent, balancing continuity with change. The ultimate aim is a fully integrated cultural offer that inspires more people to get involved with the arts, museums and libraries.

The principal responsibilities assumed are:

  • libraries development and improvement
  • Renaissance in the Regions funding programme for regional museums
  • museums development and improvement, including national collections purchase programmes (V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the PRISM fund), and a number of programmes to support and develop the standards of museums across the UK (Accreditation, Designation and the provision of national security advice)
  • statutory cultural property functions carried out on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Acceptance in Lieu, Export Licensing and the administration of the Government Indemnity Scheme) - transferring with no change
  • a number of 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games programmes

We have not assumed the MLA's strategic archive functions, which have moved to the National Archives.

Budget and staffing

We have inherited an additional budget of around £46 million a year for our new responsibilities. £43 million of this is set aside for the regional museum programme, Renaissance in the Regions (a 15 per cent reduction compared to the last spending period) and the balance of the budget will largely be devoted to library development work. We will focus our efforts to achieve the most impact.

Since agreeing in December 2010 to take on these key functions, we have worked to develop funding programmes and to secure the best expertise to provide ongoing support to museums and libraries.

We have a new staffing structure that reflects our responsibilities for museums and libraries with 53 new roles distributed throughout our organisation, which in large part bring specialist expertise.

We will also work collaboratively with other relevant national organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Archives.

Consultation

Since April, we have been in conversation with the museums and libraries sectors and have now revisited our 10-year strategic framework to make sure that museums and libraries are properly reflected in our strategic goals.

In September we published Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries for everyone. This companion piece to Achieving great art for everyone, sets out how we will place museums and libraries firmly at the heart of our organisation, our work and our vision for the future.

Renaissance

The re-developed Renaissance in the Regions major grants programme (2012-15) has now opened for applications, and we will launch the new Accreditation scheme for museums in early November. Both programmes will drive excellence and deliver long term change in museums in England, with the aim of attracting more visitors to museums and enabling people to experience them in new and innovative ways

Future libraries

We have also signalled our commitment to the continuation of the Future Libraries programme, in partnership with the Local Government Group (LGG) and the Department for Culture Media and Sport. Future Libraries 2 will run from autumn 2011 to the end of March 2013, details of which will be announced later this autumn. We aim to help libraries form new partnerships and develop innovative approaches, so that they can provide a strong 21st century library service for communities across the country. 

We look forward to working alongside the museum and library sectors to ensure a thriving future for these important areas of our national life.