Serota’s parting ACE message for next 80 years
Nicholas Serota has drawn up five priorities for future public arts funding as he steps down after ten years as chairman of Arts Council England.
The list – which includes a call for longer tern funding and fewer short-term grants - is the armature for a book published by ACE today, Made in England: Art and Culture in Changing Times marking 80 years since the foundation of the Arts Council, formerly the Arts Council of Great Britain.
Serota’s tenure covers a turbulent time for ACE, national development agency for creativity and culture, which includes the Covid crisis in which it led the government-sponsored rescue of many arts organisations; the demand from the Johnson government to cut £50m from ACE’s funding for London organisations to redistribute the money in the regions as part of “levelling up”, which led to English National Opera having to move part of its operation to Manchester; and the Hodge Report, commissioned by culture secretary Lisa Nandy, which called for the arms’ length principle in respect of ACE and for the Arts Council to be easier to apply to for funding, and become more business-like in its gathering of matching funding in sponsorship, philanthropy and business support.
The chairman’s introduction in the report is, however, more general in its projections. "In marking 80 years of sustained public investment in art and culture, we celebrate a nation made richer, happier, more inventive and more successful because of it. That long-term commitment has seeded institutions, companies, festivals, touring networks, projects and artworks of every conceivable scale" he writes.
The five points for the next 80 years are:
- Consistent, long-term public investment;
- Funding targeted to deliver measurable social and economic returns;
- Multi-year support that gives organisations the confidence to plan and build excellence across all forms of art;
- Greater investment in individual artists and emerging talent, backed by specialist knowledge and mentorship;
- A renewed commitment to teaching for creativity across the full school curriculum – not only in arts subjects, but across the humanities, sciences and maths.
Serota welcomes recent government announcements on reinstating arts in the curriculum, but warns that sustained funding and political will would be needed to reverse years of underinvestment driven by an overemphasis on STEM subjects alone.
The publication is a collection of essays by leaders in the cultural sector, including dander and choreographer Carlos Acosta, playwright David Harweood, Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid and Simon Armitage, the Poet Laureate.
In the last three years ACE has committed over £467m of taxpayers’ money alongside an estimated £250m a year from The National Lottery. Serota will hand over to the former TV executive Dawn Airey next month.