A reflection on the Investment Principles journey
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I recently joined the Arts Council as Director, Creative Health and Change. My role will be challenging, varied and collaborative, split between leading our work in health, wellbeing and criminal justice, and leading a range of sector change programmes to support our strategy, Let’s Create.
In this blog, I consider one of these change programmes – the development and implementation of Let’s Create’s four Investment Principles. These provide a framework for how creative practitioners and cultural organisations deliver their work. At a significant moment for Let’s Create, we reflect on the journey of the Investment Principles so far, and what to look out for next.
Importantly, we recently announced our first ever cohort of Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSOs). These organisations will support the creative and cultural sector in embedding the Investment Principles into their practice. The potential of this cohort is something that really excites me. Up to now, it’s mainly been the Arts Council providing direct development support for the Investment Principles. Now, this strong and varied group of IPSOs enables development support to be more distributed and adaptable to different contexts, a significant development on this change journey.
We have also been developing a Resource Hub for the sector. We started out by publishing essential reads, which explain the foundations of each Investment Principle, and from there we produced content to help those in governance and leadership positions think about how they might apply them in their roles. To do that, we sought perspectives from across and beyond the creative and cultural sector. This expertise was invaluable in bringing each of the Investment Principles to life, showing individuals and organisations how they can be practically embedded in their work.
We’re now expanding the Resource Hub, to include even more content produced by artists, thinkers, entrepreneurs, small businesses and more, each offering their own unique take on the Investment Principles. From podcasts and TV chat shows to blogs and toolkits, the Hub will allow users to filter content that suits them and get the support they need on their own Investment Principles journey. Keep an eye out in the new year for this new content.
We want the Resource Hub to spark conversation and demonstrate how flexible the Investment Principles are. At their core, they are sound development tools that can be applied in many contexts. While it goes without saying that building them into our funding programmes is a fundamental way that we will drive change, using them as a stimulus for debate, reflection and thought leadership is also so important. Let’s Create started out as a conversation and the Investment Principles give us the shared language to continue that exchange.
With this continued conversation in mind, we’re excited to host a thought leadership festival in 2023, which will bring us all together to unpick and dive into the Investment Principles. Last year we ran an open tender process and awarded the commission to Mediale. They’re currently developing the programme for a combined in-person and digital event to take place in early spring. ‘Save the dates’ and a full programme announcement will follow very shortly, but we hope this will be the first of many opportunities we can provide to help people from across the creative and cultural sector gather and talk about change and the future.
To really drive change through the Investment Principles, there is no escaping the need to benchmark, set targets and regularly review progress. For that, organisations need good data. To ensure the creative and cultural sector has access to the best tools, as part of our 2023-26 Investment Programme, we ran an open and competitive procurement process. We procured three tools which will help organisations collect and analyse data on their audiences, their environmental footprint and evaluation of their work. These will be delivered by PwC, Julie’s Bicycle and Counting What Counts and available for use from April 2023. In the new year, we’ll be sharing more information on accessing those tools with our National Portfolio and Investment Principles Support Organisations in the first instance. We’re also complementing these tools with two new Evaluation Champions, who’ll join our Digital Culture Network to help the sector make better use of data, particularly relating to in-person and online audiences.
Coming together then, we now have our essential reads as a starting point into the Investment Principles; an exciting and growing Resource Hub that allows for deeper exploration and understanding with the sector; an opportunity for individuals and organisations to gather and reflect; and a new cohort of IPSOs underpinned by three robust tools to support ambition and measure progress. Furthermore, as part of our Delivery Plan for 2021-24, the Arts Council is embedding the Investment Principles into our work too.
As I begin my journey here at the Arts Council, I am excited by the environment that’s been created by Let’s Create and the tools that have been provided for progress to continue across our brilliant cultural and creative sector. I’m looking forward to supporting our work and the sector as we collectively implement change and make the ambitions of Let’s Create a reality.
