The Arts Council England has released its draft Strategy for the next 10 years. The final strategy, which will shape how ACE deliver their development, advocacy and investment approach for the next decade, is planned to be published in December 2019 and to come into effect in April 2020.
There are multiple opportunities for positive cooperation between arts and heritage, as we have seen from the many successful cross-sector projects in the past several years. Heritage is included in the definition of “culture” in the Arts Council’s draft strategy, but the concept doesn’t explicitly extend much beyond museums and collections. We should consider how the new strategy should work for our sector into the future.
The ARC strategy is built around three outcomes, which over multiple pathways for partnerships and funding opportunities for heritage and cultural organisations:
- Creative people – ARC pledges to support museums, libraries and cultural organisations, community partners and the public to co-design and deliver an improved programme of creative activity;
- Cultural communities – ARC will work with a wide range of partners, including local Government, business, further and higher education and schools, healthcare providers, the commercial and voluntary sector and other funders, to ensure that culture continues to help build thriving communities. There are already very successful schemes, such as Creative People and Places programme, the Cultural Development Fund, the Great Place Scheme, but there is a real opportunity for heritage organisations to become major partners and help drive the direction of the future programmes of cultural and community development;
- A creative & cultural country – There is a promise for investment in Innovation and Collaboration, and in developing new works of art and creative content, reimagining our existing culture for contemporary audiences and experimenting with new ways of reaching the public.
ARC’s three investment principles are very close to some of the priorities for the heritage sector too: Ambition & Quality, Inclusivity & Relevance and Dynamism & Environmental Sustainability.
ARC claims that this is a strategy that has partnership at its heart, so please use this opportunity to flag the place of heritage in the concept of culture, and for closer cooperation between the two sectors.
You can submit your views on the Arts Council draft strategy until the end of September 2019 here.
The Heritage Alliance would like to hear from our members to inform our response on policy@theheritagealliance.org.uk.
You can also read the full text of the Arts Council draft strategy, Introduction to the consultation, Guide to the delivery plans, and the ARC Equality Analysis.