Arts Council England's (ACE) new three-year masterplan, Great Art for Everyone 2008-11, has received mixed responses from museums and galleries.
The plan identifies four development priorities, including the use of digital technology to connect with audiences and realising the cultural and artistic opportunities offered by the London 2012 Olympics.
An ACE spokeswoman said: "The investment total between 2008-09 and 2010-11 for the visual arts is £149m, which equates to an increase of 16 per cent."
But Stephen Snoddy, director of Walsall's New Art Gallery, criticised the move. "The 16 per cent increase over three years represents a marginal rise above today's inflation rate," he said. "Another 16 per cent increase for the following three-year funding term (2011-14) is needed for the visual arts to properly develop."
A key strand of the ACE plan is the implementation of Turning Point, a ten-year strategy launched in 2006 to help boost contemporary visual art.
Turning Point initiatives include working with the National Trust to improve access to public art; extending the Inspire fellowship for African, Caribbean, Chinese, south Asian and south-east Asian curators; and launching a major work of art as the centrepiece of a public art strategy for Weymouth and Portland, a 2012 Olympic sporting events host.
"The new corporate plan has a fresh feel to it," said Hilary Gresty, director of the Visual Arts and Galleries Association. "It feels re-energised. The 16 per cent increase for visual arts is obviously to be welcomed.
"But it would be good to see reference to sustainable long-term change and the partnerships that will make that happen, with local and regional government, for example. There is also a long way to go in understanding what excellence means in the context of publicly funded responsibility, reach and engagement.
"Investment in contemporary collections is so central to furthering an ambition of great art for everyone, through consolidating local partnerships and supporting new work, that to see it as a key initiative would be good."
Snoddy added that ACE should additionally fund collecting contemporary art through a group of regional "centres of excellence".
Godfrey Worsdale, the former head of the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art who becomes director of Baltic in Gateshead this month, said that "the idea of contemporary collecting sits ideologically within the new vision".
He added: "Great art is for everyone for ever. This is a fundamentally sound, logical and intelligent position for the arts council to adopt. There should be one eye on excellence and another on access and engagement."
The plan identifies four development priorities, including the use of digital technology to connect with audiences and realising the cultural and artistic opportunities offered by the London 2012 Olympics.
An ACE spokeswoman said: "The investment total between 2008-09 and 2010-11 for the visual arts is £149m, which equates to an increase of 16 per cent."
But Stephen Snoddy, director of Walsall's New Art Gallery, criticised the move. "The 16 per cent increase over three years represents a marginal rise above today's inflation rate," he said. "Another 16 per cent increase for the following three-year funding term (2011-14) is needed for the visual arts to properly develop."
A key strand of the ACE plan is the implementation of Turning Point, a ten-year strategy launched in 2006 to help boost contemporary visual art.
Turning Point initiatives include working with the National Trust to improve access to public art; extending the Inspire fellowship for African, Caribbean, Chinese, south Asian and south-east Asian curators; and launching a major work of art as the centrepiece of a public art strategy for Weymouth and Portland, a 2012 Olympic sporting events host.
"The new corporate plan has a fresh feel to it," said Hilary Gresty, director of the Visual Arts and Galleries Association. "It feels re-energised. The 16 per cent increase for visual arts is obviously to be welcomed.
"But it would be good to see reference to sustainable long-term change and the partnerships that will make that happen, with local and regional government, for example. There is also a long way to go in understanding what excellence means in the context of publicly funded responsibility, reach and engagement.
"Investment in contemporary collections is so central to furthering an ambition of great art for everyone, through consolidating local partnerships and supporting new work, that to see it as a key initiative would be good."
Snoddy added that ACE should additionally fund collecting contemporary art through a group of regional "centres of excellence".
Godfrey Worsdale, the former head of the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art who becomes director of Baltic in Gateshead this month, said that "the idea of contemporary collecting sits ideologically within the new vision".
He added: "Great art is for everyone for ever. This is a fundamentally sound, logical and intelligent position for the arts council to adopt. There should be one eye on excellence and another on access and engagement."