This week, WeDidThis, a crowd funding website for the arts, launched its Crowds for Culture campaign. The campaign hopes to increase the public voice and participation, in the arts funding ecology. WeDidThis co-founder and site creator, Hen Norton wrote to Alan Davey, asking ACE to consider three ways it could make micro-philanthropist a greater say in the commissioning and funding of the UK arts, to make the sector stronger and more resilient:

The deadline for our members’ survey has now passed and we would like to thank those of you who took part. The I Value the Arts survey is still open and we want to encourage as many people to participate in this as possible. Click here to take part in the survey, the closing date is 29th July.

The deadline for responses to our members’ survey is 20th July. We need to heard from as many as you as possible - we recognise the enormous value that your suggestions, advice and feedback can provide. At a time of huge change in the sector, we would like to hear from you about how you think the NCA can be most effective for the arts, both locally and nationally.

Following the announcements made in the budget, HM Treasury is now inviting views from the sector on lifetime giving. This consultation is part of the wider government commitment to charitable giving agenda and we encourage our members to get in touch with the NCA with comments on the consultation.

From Monday 23rd May, craft professionals are invited to take part in a telephone survey, aimed at mapping the size and impact of the craft sector.

The Drama and Theatre Manifesto recognizes a common sense of purpose and a shared belief in the contribution drama and theatre makes to the quality of children’s lives in school and beyond.

The Manifesto has been endorsed by these organisations and associations:

Action for Children’s’ Arts (ACA), Equity,   National Association of Teachers of Drama (NATD), National Association of Youth Theatres (NAYT), National Council for Drama Training (NCDT), National Drama (ND), National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA), Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Theatre Education Forum (TEF), Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) England

If you are an Organisation, you can send the manifesto on to your members and invite them to incorporate it into their practice and policy and to disseminate it to their students, participants and colleagues.  .

The Manifesto is a call to action to young people, parents, teachers and theatre practitioners to unify their efforts and ensure that young people have access to drama and theatre.

The sense of unity within the sector that the Manifesto represents is only the first step to its usefulness as an effective tool for drawing support and funding to the sector. At a time of cuts, we need to be able to advocate with clarity the successes achieved by the sector as a whole and be able to evidence why our community is of such vital importance to the UK’s cultural, educational and economic life and to the lives of individual children and young people who see or make theatre and drama

Download a copy of the Drama and Theatre Manifesto here

Visit www.dramatheatremanifesto.co.uk for more information

Now that the election campaign has begun in earnest, it is time to remind ourselves of some of the arguments for and against arts funding via the public purse. A full transcript of the NCA debate that took place at Kings Place on 1 March is now available for all those who were unable to attend or who would like to be able to flick through what was said rather than listen to the recordings.

In a week filled with events, the NCA also held a seminar to examine the potential political landscape after the election, what implications these outcomes might have for the arts sector and what the sector can do to argue its case in the run up to, during and beyond the election campaign. Andrew Hawkins, CEO of political pollsters ComRes and analyst Daniel Hamilton presented an analysis looking at the likely outcome of the forthcoming election, considering why the outcome is so difficult to predict with any certainty, where the key battleground seats are, and what the implications are likely to be for policy making in the initial months of the new government.

Transcript of NCA debate held at Kings Place on 1 March 2010, "This country can no longer afford to subsidise the arts."