Gnosis, Akram Khan. Credit: Richard Haughton
A new arts landscape
Over the past 15 years the arts have enjoyed a period of outstanding success. Sustained investment - greatly helped by the National Lottery - has transformed the cultural landscape. More than £2 billion of Lottery funding has been awarded through the Arts Council, over £1.4 billion of which has been spent on buildings.
Around 100 new theatres, galleries and arts centres have been created, while almost 500 have been rejuvenated and refurbished. These have been the focus of urban and rural regeneration, bringing renewed vitality to neighbourhoods, cities and regions across England.
Our investment has also enabled artists and arts organisations to thrive. Our total investment in regularly funded organisations has grown in cash terms by 130 per cent from £149 million in 1996/971 to £344 million in 2009/10 and last year we made 2,795 awards through our Grants for the arts programme totalling £64.9million.2 This stability has given organisations the space to plan ahead, be ambitious and experiment. It has created the conditions in which the best and most innovative art can emerge. The enhanced quality and range of art on offer has reached more people through touring and, more recently, through digital distribution. It has attracted international critical acclaim, positioning England as a creative hub, constantly interacting with artists and audiences worldwide.
Audiences have responded, with more people enjoying the arts than ever before. In 2009/10, 76 per cent3 of the adult population engaged with the arts and in 2008/09 our regularly funded organisations attracted 85 million attendances.4 The arts have played an increasingly important role in education. Indeed, more and more the arts are recognised as a frontline service in achieving extraordinary outcomes across the public sector. Participation in the arts can increase individual well-being, encourage active citizenship, and contribute to prosperity locally and nationally.
We are proud of these achievements – but we know we can go further. Our success has fostered an aspiration in us and our partners to redouble our efforts to ensure that the impact of the arts is felt even more powerfully and widely across the country. Changes are occurring in the arts, in society, in the economy and environment, and in the way people live their lives. These present complex challenges for the arts but also enormous opportunities.
Our commitment to excellence and diversity
There is an increasing blurring of boundaries between different art forms, as well as the emergence of new kinds of practice and presentation. Artistic hybrids have evolved in response to the new and unusual spaces in which art is taking place, and the opportunities created by digital technology. New relationships with audiences are developing, and people can become involved in the creative process itself.
Consequently, the range of artists and arts organisations supported by the Arts Council must also evolve. In making judgements about who and what to fund, the Arts Council needs to balance competing pressures – different views of artistic quality, of what is offensive and what is inspiring, different art forms and aesthetics, different audiences, timeframes and places reflecting a vast and extraordinary breadth of activity. Our guiding principle in making judgements across this spectrum is to look for excellence: how original, innovative and artistically ambitious is the work, project, or event? Does it, in some way, have the ability or potential to change how the audience or participants view the world?
