Arts Council Secures Extra
£10 million
Confirming an uplift of more than £10million following the announcement of an extra £18million for the arts over three years from the Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure, the Arts Council today revealed its initial spending plans for the funding period.
Prof Brian Walker, Chairman, stated that the Council had lost no time in putting detail on DCAL’s figures.
"This uplift means the Council’s allocation for the first time exceeds £10million per year, raising the per capita spend on the arts from £4.34 in the current year to £6.45 by 2005. Our arts organisations are rightly keen to know more about the new funding and my Council has moved quickly this week to agree our spending priorities with government."
The distribution of the new funding is underpinned by the key principles of the Arts Council’s five-year plan, published last year: developing infrastructure, securing sustainability of key organisations and venues and promoting creative confidence.
- £4.5m over the next three-year period will be invested to secure the sustainability of key arts organisations and venues, helping the Arts Council to secure the future of flagship venues and providers.
-
£1.1m is being directed into a Challenge Fund to encourage district councils to support projects and organisations in their areas, with emphasis on community arts projects and venues, including those funded through the National Lottery.
- The Arts Council’s ground-breaking Support for the Individual Artist Programme will be boosted from its current £500,000 annual budget to more than £1,000,000 per annum. This programme provides training for the individual artist, promotes the work of the artist and improves income and employment opportunities.
- £1.5million has been allocated by government in support of the Council’s programme to raise awareness of – and support for – theatre, dance, disability arts and language arts. It will also provide support for the Council’s emerging strategies for crafts and architecture, which can make an enormous difference both to our quality of life and to how we are perceived. The Council recently appointed two full-time officers with responsibility for these key areas.
- £1million has been set aside over the three years to help arts and cultural venues meet the standards required by the Disability Discrimination Act. This will take the form of a grant-aid scheme for improvements to physical access and training for venue staff.
- £750,000 will help the Arts Council and the five Education and Library Boards to develop initiatives to encourage and sustain creativity in our children and young people
Prof Brian Walker concluded:
"The funding reinforces the new directions taken in our five-year strategy adopted in 2001. We can now begin the exciting work of determining the destination of our total funding to our hard-pressed arts organisations who rely on us for their day-to-day existence."
- In the current year, Arts Council spending on the arts totalled £7.3 million.
- The Arts Council is due to announce its first set of allocations to arts organisations under the new funding in February next year.
- The four priorities of the Arts Council five-year strategy are: increase opportunities for creative participation in the arts; development new audiences for the arts & build on existing ones; extend opportunities for artists to develop their work & practice; strengthen capacity of organisations to deliver quality experiences of the arts.
- At a glance breakdown of additional funding to the Arts Council:
|
Year
2003-04 |
Year
2004-05 |
Year
2005-06 |
| |
£ |
£ |
£ |
Accessibility |
300,000 |
400,000 |
300,000 |
Sustainability |
1,500,000 |
1,500,000 |
1,500,000 |
DC Challenge Fund |
200,000 |
400,000 |
500,000 |
Support for Individual Artist |
500,000 |
500,000 |
500,000 |
Arts Development |
500,000 |
500,000 |
500,000 |
Creativity in Education |
250,000 |
250,000 |
250,000 |
- UK Arts Councils spending per head of population*
|
|
Population√ |
Arts spend |
Per capita |
N Ireland |
2005/06 |
1,685,267 |
£10,865,510 |
£6.45 |
|
2004/05 |
1,685,267 |
£10,865,510 |
£6.45 |
|
2003/04 |
1,685,267 |
£10,565,510 |
£6.27 |
|
2002/03 |
1,685,267 |
£7,315,510 |
£4.34 |
|
2001/02 |
1,685,267 |
£7,564,659 |
£4.49 |
|
|
|
|
|
England |
2002/03 |
49,138,831 |
£289,680,000 |
£5.90 |
|
2001/02 |
49,138,831 |
£249,044,000 |
£5.07 |
|
|
|
|
|
Wales |
2002/03 |
2,903,085 |
£18,663,048 |
£6.43 |
|
2001/02 |
2,903,085 |
£15,171,000 |
£5.23 |
|
|
|
|
|
Scotland |
2002/03 |
5,060,211 |
£33,837,000 |
£6.69 |
|
2001/02 |
5,060,211 |
£33,706,000 |
£6.66 |
* These figures include only direct arts expenditure and do not include any spending on administration, communication or salaries for either revenue or Lottery funding.
√ The population figures are taken from the 2001 Census.
|
