The Next Challenge

I had dearly hoped, that as we moved beyond the initial Covid crisis of 2020, we could all enter a period of recovery and reset. As it has turned out the scale of change we continue to experience, with the war in Ukraine and growing economic pressures, is making life stressful for many in our sector.      

As we have learned, global pandemics and geopolitics have direct consequences for artists, freelancers and those running cultural organisations. There has been little respite for anyone since that fateful moment in March 2020 when our world changed forever.   

At the start of the Covid lockdown the Arts Council, along with the government, jumped into action to give our sector the support it needed to survive. It is just as important now that we continue to offer some shelter from the storm. I have to be honest with you, we can’t take all the pressure away, but we will do our best to help, and we welcome the pan-economic intervention from the government to support the energy costs of businesses and charities. 

This comes off the back of the government’s unprecedented investment via the Culture Recovery Fund. Government backing creates stability that the sector badly needs, giving us a foothold while facing into the wind. We’re committed to monitoring the measures that have been put in place by Government, and over the coming weeks the Arts Council will be surveying arts and culture organisations in order to understand the cost pressures they are facing and the impact that support is having on the sector. We realise organisations and individuals will not be able to afford to do as much with what they have from us as they once did.        

I say all of the above in the full knowledge that we ourselves are about to be another significant source of change for many organisations, as we draw closer to announcing the outcome of our National Portfolio investment process. We aim to increase investment right across England through this process as well as taking a firm step forward toward the vision we set out in our 10 year strategy Let’s Create.         

I want to reassure you that we take our responsibility as decision-makers very seriously, recognising the need to sustain the extraordinary cultural ecology of the country. We are going to fund many organisations to do brilliant things. For successful applicants to the process, those external economic headwinds have become much stronger since they wrote their applications earlier this year. After we have made conditional offers to successful organisations at the end of this month, we will discuss the detail of their plans to ensure they are viable in the changed context that they will be delivering them in from April next year. 

We also recognise that in a very competitive funding round there will be some disappointment. We have plans for transition in place for those organisations leaving our National Portfolio next year, and where possible, we will direct those who are unsuccessful to other potential sources of funding. For everyone, whether they are in receipt of regular Arts Council funding or not, the long-term challenge will be building resilience and we have an important long term development role there too for the whole cultural sector.

We want to work with organisations to help them to build sustainability into their business models, to trial new ways of working that will help to deliver their cultural activity with impact and within the means available. Testing out ideas, reimagining the world, telling new stories is what our sector does daily. We want to support cultural organisations to invest in that creative mindset in business too and will be offering more support for that after our NPO process is completed. 

We also recognise that freelancers continue to be very vulnerable, sitting at the end of supply chains. We have been working with groups representing a whole range of individuals whose talent and skills make our sector such a creative force. We have increased our investment in support for individual artists and we are investing in more training and resources for individuals. Our funding agreements with cultural institutions encourage inclusive working environments, fair pay and development support for the freelancers they work with. For the next generation we will continue to research and support the maintenance of pathways into our sector for young people of all backgrounds. Covid taught us all a lesson about the value of our freelance community and I’m determined we continue to build on that learning as we tackle present challenges.  

When I was writing about the impact of Covid back in 2020 I didn’t think I would have to put pen to paper two years later about such a daunting new set of challenges for us to overcome.  The conditions in which we operate may feel unpromising, my words seem downbeat, but despite everything we face I feel more than a glimmer of hope. Because something is different from the lockdown days back in 2020. I get a daily dose of joy when I hear about the incredible work going on in our theatres, performance spaces, galleries, community centres, museums and libraries. Our sector is open for business. It is bringing everyday wonders – some much-needed light and laughter - to audiences and participants across England.  I don’t underestimate the scale of the mountain we have to climb, but I do have deep faith in the resourcefulness and ingenuity of our sector. And I want to assure you that however hard things get, the Arts Council will be there, listening to what you need and doing our best to champion your ambition.