AIR

ACE publishes ’Why the arts matter’ toolkit after warning their regularly funded organisations they face a minimum 10% cut next year.

The Arts Council has warned its regularly funded organisations they must start planning for cuts of at least 10% next year. Following notification in June that the DCMS will be slashing budgets by 25-30% it comes as little surprise that the Arts Council is issuing this warning. Yet even they admitted they are unsure as to quite what to expect.

ACE Chief Executive Alan Davey said: "In this rapidly changing environment there are still things we don't know. There is much detail still to be decided, but we need to be clear that cuts of up to 30% would mean significant change. We would no longer be able to fund many organisations in the way we have been to date."

Davey encouraged advance preparation, stating: "We want to give organisations at least 12 months' notice of significant changes to their funding future so we will run the next funding process in two stages: investment decisions for 2011/12 (year one) will be separated from years 12/13 - 14/15."

Davey also revealed a new ACE toolkit to support the advocacy of individuals and organisations within the arts. You can download Why the arts matter here »

This is undoubtedly a positive step towards a fully functioning two-way model, something the ACE has not always been successful at achieving. Speaking at the Destino: A Contemporary Dance Story event at the RSA on the day his statement was released, Davey said: "We want artists to actively start talking to politicians and policy makers. They are key to our planning."

Some suggestions for making the case for the arts include:

• Be positive in your approach. Aim to shape and respond to government policy rather than criticise it.
• Tailor your approach and tone to be in tune with the people you want to influence.
• Make the case collaboratively with other organisations. This will add weight to your message.

Other key actions include:

• Tell your social networking followers why the arts matter to you. Ask them why they matter to them and urge them to make your case to local and national politicians.
• Update your website with content on why the arts matter and include this content in your newsletters.
• Include information on why the arts matter in your media releases and be interviewed (perhaps with representatives from the Arts Council) about arts funding.
• Think about how the key messages apply to your organisation.
• Email your MP to tell them why the arts matter and how this applies to your organisation. Invite them to see the work of your organisation.
• Email your stakeholders to tell them why the arts matter, urging them to make your case to MPs.

At the same event, Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA, further emphasised the power of social networks to bring the arts community together. He said: "The ACE has some incredibly difficult decisions to make and it should be asking the arts community how to make them. Social networks could be the key."

Davey also asked organisations to use 2011/12 as a year of transition building towards a new approach to the arts landscape. He announced a series of briefing sessions throughout July designed to discuss three new funding programmes that the ACE are considering phasing in over time. He said: "These programmes will emphasise the nature of our relationships with funded organisations in order to focus our investment on what we want to achieve and allow us to respond quickly to new ideas and ways of working."

It seems that in times of need the Arts Council is finally turning to others for help. One must hope Davey's words truly signal a new phase of consultation between the Arts Council and its funded organisations. Taylor perhaps articulated it best when he put it to Davey: "It is not important what happens in the public or private sectors - it is what happens in-between."

Read AIR’s live tweets from the Destino: A Contemporary Dance Story panel discussion here »

Discuss this story on Arts Funding Ning here »

Jack Hutchinson

First published: a-n.co.uk July 2010