Arts Council England (ACE) has outlined a model for making the "holistic case" for the value of arts and culture, which it says will enable it to make the case for investment to the next government in 2015.
The model was presented yesterday at a joint ACE and Royal Society of Arts (RSA) event discussing a new political economy for the arts and culture.
Speaking at the event, Alan Davey, chief executive of ACE, said that it was essential to articulate the whole argument for arts and culture, rather than focusing on just the economic value or the benefits to health and wellbeing.
He said there had been “fads” in areas of research, but that over the next 12 months the arts council would try to bring these together to present a fuller picture.
Davey also called on the sector to respond to the approach: “By next year we need to be ready for whatever the new government brings. We need a place for culture to be readily recognised and readily asserted to whoever that government is.”
Culture is at the heart of ACE’s holistic model, alongside education, society and the economy.
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The event also marked the launch of a new report, Towards Plan A: a new political economy for arts and culture. The report, which is based on a series of seminars, makes a number of recommendations and includes four essays.
In his foreword, Peter Bazalgette, chairman of ACE, said: “The arts are essential, but so embedded in our lives that their presence often goes unacknowledged. Pinning this down requires specifics.
"It needs more measurement, more evaluation, and a new language of value to communicate across different sectors of influence. We need to be able to make this holistic case as clearly as others in the ‘third sector’ do."
John Knell, a consultant who contributed to the report, said it was not intended as a defence against cuts but was a renewed investment pitch.
Among the report’s recommendations are making the economic case for arts and culture and commissioning at least one burden of proof study.
