Last week, we reported that Arts Council England (ACE) had launched Achieving great art for everyone – a consultation on future priorities for the arts, the results of which will inform a ten-year strategic framework and ACE’s future investment decisions, and asked Members to submit comments and evidence to inform our response. Briefly, the consultation outlines five long-term goals that will drive ACE’s development work, inform its funding priorities and strengthen relationships with artists, organisations and audiences.

Unusually so close after Christmas, Parliament is focussed on no fewer than four pieces of legislation which are of interest to the arts sector.

Once again, the Queen’s speech during this year’s State Opening of Parliament made fleeting reference at best to the arts. The micro-speech, lasting less than 7 minutes, panned by David Cameron as the Prime Minister’s desperate attempt “to relaunch his political career”, contained 13 bills, 3 of which were carried over from the previous session. The main focus was on pensioners, parents, and economic recovery, but it is the Digital Economy Bill and Children, Schools and Family Bill which may impact the arts sector.

The Executive Summary of the Arts Index is available to everyone. The full copy of the Arts Index report is only available to members of the NCA. Click here for details on how to join.

The production of the Arts Index would not have been possible without the help and support of the following organisations, to whom we are enormously grateful:

Audiences UK, Audiences London, Americans for the Arts, Arts and Business, Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council Northern Ireland and The Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

Thanks too to Don Foster MP for sponsoring the launch at the House of Commons, and to Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, Shadow Culture Minister Dan Jarvis, John Nickson and Ivan Cutting for speaking. 

Response to consultation on 5 aspirations drafted towards a Drama and Theatre strategy for children and young people.