Arts Council England

A new report by the Creative Industries Federation and Arts Council England highlights the impact that public funding for the arts has on the wider commercial creative industries and on society as a whole.

Following the election, Chancellor George Osborne has announced a £30m cut for the DCMS this year.

The cut means that Arts Council England has to make savings of 0.3% this year. This is expected to come from savings from strategic funds and not from cuts to funded organisations or to staff. Further Departmental cuts are expected to be announced as part of the Emergency budget on 8 July 2015.

Arts Council England has announced a new set of funding schemes to support major events outside London and also large capital projects. ACE also announced the organisations which will be funded over the next two years to research the health and social impacts of the arts.

Arts Council England has published an analysis of the different political party manifestos. The review looks at each party’s commitments and promises to the arts sector.

w: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/arts-council-news/summary-party-manif...

A collaboration between public and private sector partners has established The Arts Impact Fund, a new £7million initiative designed to demonstrate the potential for social investment in arts. The fund offers repayable finance to arts organisations working in England that can show that they have a positive impact on society.

Arts Council England has launched an advocacy toolkit for arts organisations. It features a range of guidance for organisations wishing to work with the media and policy-makers to make the case for arts.

w: www.artscouncil.org.uk/toolkit 

Arts Council England has launched a new Research Grants Programme, which aims to provide opportunities for the arts sector to engage in collaborative research to explore the impact that arts and culture can have on social outcomes.

The funding will support the arts and research sectors to examine measurable impacts of culture on the economy, health and wellbeing, society and education. Successful applicants will promote greater collaboration and co-operation between the arts and cultural sector and research partners.

Arts Council England has published a research study to assess the connection between arts engagement and people’s happiness. The research analyses data from Mappiness– an iPhone app that allows users to record their own wellbeing.

The report, by economists Daniel Fujiwara and George MacKerron, found that people recording their experience of arts and culture activities score highly in terms of both positive effects on happiness and relaxation, above leisure activities like watching TV or drinking alcohol.

Arts Council England has appointed Darren Henley to take over as Chief Executive from Alan Davey. Henley has been in charge of Classic FM for the past 15 years and has also led two reviews into music education for the government.

He will take over this spring, in the meantime Althea Efunshile is Acting Chief Executive. Alan Davey has left to head up Radio 3.

w: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/arts-council-news/new-chief-executive...

Arts Council England has issued a warning to arts organisations that their funding will be affected if they fail to act on diversity.

The warning follows the publication of a new literature and evidence review into diversity in arts and culture. The report establishes a baseline of data, evidence and research about equality and diversity across the arts and cultural sector. It offers a snapshot of current trends and challenges across four key themes: arts and cultural audiences, arts and cultural participation, workforce, and access to finance.