Arts Council England’s Strategy for 2020-30 is built around three Outcomes and four Investment Principles. They are designed to work together to achieve our vision of a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences

The three Outcomes focus in turn on how people can develop personal creativity at every stage of their lives; how culture is created by and with people in their communities, and how it shapes the places in which they live, work, learn and visit; and the development of the innovative, collaborative and internationally-facing professional cultural sector that we believe will be needed over the next decade. The first Outcome, Creative People, focuses on amateur and voluntary creative activity, including by children and young people. The third Outcome, A Creative & Cultural Country, looks at the professional cultural sector, including those seeking to develop a career in the creative industries after they leave full-time education. The second Outcome, Cultural Communities, brings the first and third Outcomes together by considering how the professional and voluntary sectors can work with each other to help shape stronger cultural provision in villages, towns and cities.

These Outcomes are ambitious and are intended to touch everyone in this country. However, we recognise that within this country, there are places and people who have been disadvantaged by historic patterns of public funding, including within culture. Therefore, the Delivery Plans that we will publish over the next decade in which we set out the detail of how we will deliver this Strategy will pay particular attention to addressing those historic imbalances. Specifically, we will ensure that our programmes meet the needs of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, D/deaf or disabled people, and those from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds, who have traditionally had least access to our resources.

The four Investment Principles set out how cultural organisations will need to develop so that they can better deliver the three Outcomes. Under these Principles, all of the organisations that we fund will be dynamic, highly collaborative, inclusive and relevant in the way they work and the culture they produce, and champions of good leadership. They will be ambitious, and constantly seek to improve the quality of their work. They will be leaders in their communities in their approach to environmental responsibility, and will be able to demonstrate their success through creative and business innovation. Collectively, the organisations we support will represent the diversity of this country. Individually, they will work in ways that are valuable to, and valued by, their communities, creative practitioners and partners.

The Outcomes and Investment Principles are fundamentally linked. We believe people are better able to develop their creative potential if they have easy access – off and online – to outstanding libraries, museums and arts organisations. Such provision must be locally accessible but part of a national cultural ecology: one that is ambitious, inclusive and relevant, dynamic and environmentally responsible. And that national ecology must in turn be strengthened by talented artists from all communities, who have been given equal opportunities to develop their individual creative potential. Taken together, the Outcomes and Investment Principles will guide us towards the creative and cultural nation we want England to become by 2030.