A new era for culture in England

As the dust settles on the long-awaited review of Arts Council England (ACE), published last December, it has become clear that Labour peer Margaret Hodge’s findings – along with the £1.5bn uplift for the sector announced in January – may well usher in a transformation of England’s culture sector.  

Written following a year-long sector consultation, the review could have far-reaching implications for museums.

Proposals include a call to scrap the arts council’s 2020-30 strategy, Let’s Create, in favour of a “new, less prescriptive strategy”, and a recommendation for a “completely new model” for National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) funding. 

Hodge says that the UK government should consider introducing admission charges for overseas visitors to national museums and galleries. 

Other recommendations include encouraging the arts council and wider sector to tap into more commercial investment.

Hodge wants the organisation to set up its own trading arm and endowment fund, and is urging the government to introduce a ring-fenced tourist tax for culture, plus stronger incentives for philanthropy, such as doubling Gift Aid outside London and south-east England. 

Despite praising the arts council’s museum team, Hodge says “museums do not feel sufficiently represented and considered by the arts council beyond the dedicated team, particularly at board level”. 

And although ACE has worked to raise the profile of museums within the arts and culture ecology, “further efforts are still needed to ensure these institutions are not perceived as less important than the performing and visual arts” in the arts council’s strategic priorities or funding decisions, Hodge found in her review. 

The review also criticised the arts council’s role as a development agency for the sector, with specific concerns raised about its reporting system, Illuminate, which “does not fit well with how museums operate”. 

Museum strategy 

Hodge believes that while ACE should retain its role as the development agency for museums, this role should be strengthened, as there is a “strong desire for ACE to create and own a strategy for museums that would clarify its role and define its aims”. 

The review found that museum schemes managed by the arts council – such as Accreditation, Acceptance in Lieu and the Cultural Gifts Scheme – are “effectively run”, but there are concerns about the Government Indemnity Scheme (GIS), which provides cultural institutions with an alternative to commercial insurance.

The review asserts that “since the global pandemic, the approach to risk has tightened up to such an extent that [GIS] is less effective in delivering its goals”. As a result, “fewer works are being shown in museums and galleries around the country”.  

“Museums do not feel sufficiently represented and considered by the arts council beyond the dedicated team, particularly at board level”

The review recommends that ACE should take a “more proactive role” in raising awareness of its museum schemes, and should “adopt a more pragmatic approach to risk appetite in relation to the Government Indemnity Scheme”. 

In one of her more eye-catching recommendations, Hodge has also called on the government to consider bringing in admission charges for international visitors to national museums and galleries, which would fall outside the arts council’s remit. 

She says the government’s recently announced introduction of universal ID cards “would present a valuable opportunity to revisit the policy of free entry for international visitors to national museums and galleries”.  

Cultural ecology 

Beyond the museum sector, the review is critical of the arts council’s role in supporting the wider cultural ecology, calling for a “radical overhaul” of its strategy and funding models. 

The review concluded that the arts council’s 10-year strategy, Let’s Create, had pursued culture in an instrumentalist way that deprioritised “artistic excellence” and “stifled creativity and innovation”. This has led to widespread frustration across the arts sector. 

There was also “almost universal criticism” of the arts council’s application processes and the reporting demands, the review found.  

Hodge is urging ACE to “replace Let’s Create with a new, less prescriptive strategy that is both ambitious, simple and reflects the government’s ambition of excellence for all”. 

The review also addressed what some have described as increasing “political interference” in the arts council. Responding to this, Hodge has called for the arm’s-length principle to be strengthened and maintained. 

“There have been attempts to exert more political control over ACE decisions in recent years and this has to stop,” says Hodge. “The arts council must remain free from political interference.”   

The review’s museum-specific recommendations have been broadly welcomed, particularly its call for a new strategic framework and long-term plan.   

“We recognise the need for change but are cautious about losing the principles of widening access and fairer distribution”

“This is timely and necessary, given the scale of the civic museum network and the pressures created by local authority funding challenges and reform alongside estate backlog,” says Jon Finch, speaking to Museums Journal on behalf of the English Civic Museums Network (ECMN). Such a plan should “explicitly address equity of investment”, he adds.  

The ECMN also welcomes the review’s call for reform application and reporting. “Museums are distinctive in their long-term responsibilities for collections, estates and public access, and would benefit from reporting and assessment approaches that better reflect these characteristics,” says Finch.  

But there is concern about the review’s recommendation to replace Let’s Create with a less prescriptive strategy. “We recognise the need for change but are cautious about losing the principles of widening access and fairer distribution,” says Finch.  

“We hope new strategies and models from ACE recognise that the value and excellence of museums is expressed not only through programmes but also through stewardship, learning, access and place-based civic value,” Finch continues.  

“At a personal level, I would have liked greater recognition of the role local government plays in the delivery of museums and the wider cultural sector, and a clearer role for local government, going forward.”  

ACE response 

In its initial response, the arts council said it had “heard clearly that we have been too ‘prescriptive’ in how we implement Let’s Create”. 

“We recognise that we must give our artists and organisations more space to articulate their ambition, and that we need to reduce the administrative burden we have placed on them,” the arts council added. 

The coming months will be transformative for ACE. As well as taking on board the Hodge recommendations, the funding body is due to get a new chair to succeed Nicholas Serota in the summer. It will also need to work out how to distribute the £1.5bn government uplift.

Museum leaders say they want to work with ACE to design any sector-specific funding streams, although they are clear that there is still a need for long-term, sustainable public funding. A strong relationship between ACE and the sector will be crucial, as we step into what could be a new era for culture in England. 

Sector reaction 

Sharon Heal, director, Museums Association 

“We have long argued for a meaningful strategy for museums in England, so we particularly support the recommendation to develop a strategic framework and create a specific long-term plan for museums. We would like to see this recommendation taken forward in full engagement with the museum sector and community partners to ensure these plans are relevant and, more importantly, fully funded. There will be nervousness about changes to the NPO system and early clarification and reassurance about what this means for museums is needed.” 

Paula Orrell, director, Contemporary Visual Arts Network, England 

“The review is thoughtful and measured, with a crucial and unequivocal defence of the arm’s-length principle, which the Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) sees as non-negotiable for artistic freedom, public trust and meaningful engagement. While many of the recommendations are sensible – particularly around simplification, place-based decision-making and support for artists – the review also exposes a deeper problem: chronic underinvestment. Structural change alone cannot compensate for a system that has been hollowed out in real terms over more than a decade. CVAN welcomes the review as a step toward stabilisation.” 

Timothy Ambrose, heritage consultant 

“It is valuable to read the full report and compare the extent of coverage and range of recommendations for libraries and museums with other art forms. The fact that there has not been a strategic framework and long-term plan for museums since Arts Council England was tasked with responsibility for the sector by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is instructive. It raises the fundamental question as to whether museums would be better served either by re-establishing a dedicated development agency for the sector (as Scotland had done so successfully) or by transferring responsibility and resource to a repurposed and restructured National Lottery Heritage Fund. Brigading museums with the contemporary arts sector rather than the heritage sector has always seemed something of a difficult fit. But the train may have left the platform on that point, and it will therefore be important for the arts council to engage the whole museum sector in creating a new long-term strategy.” (comment from LinkedIn)  

Tony Butler, executive director, Derby Museums 

“The review has a lot of sensible proposals: championing arms-length principle while recognising the political reality of devolution; a museums strategy for England (almost); and strengthening emphasis on the art form/sector. Principles of Let’s Create are embedded now (although I’d argue they already were in regional museums prior to that strategy). Five-year NPO agreements is de facto what we have now, (must allow for inflation).” (comment from LinkedIn)