NEW Digital R&D Fund for the Arts

Arts Council launch a £7 million Digital R&D Fund for the Arts in partnership with Nesta and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

The Digital R&D Fund for the Arts, which follows a pilot project in 2011, is unique in encouraging collaboration between the arts, digital technology providers and the research community in order to undertake experiments from which the wider arts and cultural sector can learn.

The launch of the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts coincides with the publication of our Creative media policy, which sets out how we aim to stimulate a new era of digital access and growth in the arts and creative industries.

The policy explains how we will work to support artists and arts and cultural organisations to develop skills in producing, distributing, connecting, preserving and exploiting their artistic and cultural work digitally.

It also identifies nine development areas that need to be addressed if we are going to see a significant growth in the quality, volume and reach of creative media content and experiences produced by arts and cultural organisations. These areas will shape the focus of our development, investment and advocacy activities in digital and creative media work.

http://www.artsdigitalrnd.org.uk/

Arts Audiences: Insight

I'm working from The Pound Arts Centre today and Ian (WAP's Chair and Director of The Pound) handed me a beautiful, unmistakably Arts Council published document entitled Arts Audience: Insight and said 'So which one are you?'. Confused, I began to explore the document full of lovely 'wordle like' art work and fold out pages.

So what is it?

It is the culmination of what must have been extensive research which has moved away from the traditional ACORN and MOSAIC definition of the population to that focused on arts attendance. Groups are divided into three sections: Highly engaged, Some engagement and Not currently engaged. Within these sections are sub sections:

Highly Engaged: (Reps 9% of population)
Urban Arts Eclectic (5%)
Traditional Culture Vulture (4%)

Some Engagement: (Reps 70% of population)
Fun, fashion and friends (18%)
Mature Explorers (11%)
Dinner and Show (20%)
Family and Community focused (11%)
Bedroom DJs (3%)
Mid-life hobbyists (4%)
Retired arts and crafts (3%)

Not currently engaged: (23%)
Time-poor dreamers (7%)
A quiet pint with the match (8%)
Older and home-bound (6%)
Limited means, nothing fancy (2%)

The document goes onto to define these groups by their leisure pursuits, arts engagement, demographic, and their media use (with rather clever artwork to illustrate that information).

I am left wondering whether the investment in this is worthy of the usefulness in terms of an audience development strategy, having said that the section that looks at engaging each group is fairly useful. It does feel a little like reinventing the ACORN and MOSAIC wheel to limited value, although given that there is apparently 70% engaging 'sometimes', and 23% not currently engaged it does suggest we have some work to do! What do you think?

Oh and in reply to Ian's question 'which one are you?' I think I am probably 'Family and Community Focused', though I would like to have fitted into the 'Urban arts eclectic.'

So which one are you?

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/Arts_audiences_insight.pdf

NB: I am sharing my own personal opinion in this post and is not intended to represent the opinion of WAP members!

Reshaping update

I've just received this from Catriona at ACE!

Trading for Sustainability

The Devon SSE is running a special tailor-made action learning programme aimed at practitioners, artists and organisations in the arts and creative industries that are facing the loss of public funding for their work. The course aims to fill the gap by offering expert, in-depth practical support as you move away from grant dependency. Trading for Sustainability will also include distilled content from their highly successful social entrepreneurship fellows programme. The Trading for Sustainability course is structured to run in three blocks of two days over a three months period giving you time to implement changes between sessions and will support you to re-think your business model to meet the changing environment and develop your future financial sustainability while keeping your creative and social purpose firmly in mind. Please see attached pdf for more details.

Kind regards

Catriona

Catriona Hunter

Assistant, Regional Planning

Arts Council England



Direct line: 01392 229209

Email: catriona.hunter@artscouncil.org.uk

Web: www.artscouncil.org.uk

Open publication - Free publishing - More ace

ACE Reshaping toolkits and event

I recently attending the Arts Council's Reshaping event. They have developed two documents that are jammed packed with information and links to help artists and arts organisations develop and adjust to thrive in these changing times.

There is an opportunity for you to attend an event to introduce these documents in Swindon on July 14th. For more information visit: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/news/reshaping-arts-council-england-event/

Open publication - Free publishing - More ace

Open publication - Free publishing - More ace

Alan Davey answer funding questions

Alan Davey answers your Arts Council funding questions

Following funding and cuts announcements, Arts Council England chief executive Alan Davey took part in a live Q&A to answer some of your questions.

The big picture is this: the arts council had its budget cut by 29.6% with a condition that it could not pass on frontline spending cuts of more than 15%. It chose to take that figure as an overall figure and shake up the national portfolio. That's why 206 organisations had their funding cut altogether and 110 new organisations were brought into the mix.

All the big beasts – the Royal Opera, the National Theatre and so on – remain intact with cuts of around 11-15%.

Many have seen their cash go up such as the Arcola theatre in Dalston, London (an 82% real terms increase) while others have gone down – the Almeida in Islington, London, is losing 39% of its money.

Then there are the groups applying for first time funding who did not make it – the Rose in Kingston for example – and they're not, to say the least, happy.

There is no right of appeal for any of the arts organisations but there is the right to ask Davey, who took over in 2008, some questions.

Click on this link to see the questions asked and Alan Davey's responses. Q&A

Arts Council Event - Reshaping

2011/12 will be a year of change for many organisations working in the arts sector. We are keen to help and support the sector by collating and signposting to sources of advice, information networks and intermediary bodies that can help. These will include information and links to the social purpose/social enterprise sector, to digital opportunities and information and to business models and fundraising.

We would like to offer organisations the opportunity to get together to share this information and support each other and will be facilitating this by holding four introductory events across the region to flag up current advice and provision, identify needs and particular issues facing arts organisations, and to encourage collaboration between organisations.

Dates and venues:

Monday 6th June – Knowle West Media Centre, Bristol

Wednesday 8th June – iDat, University of Plymouth

Friday 10th June – The Genesis Centre, Taunton

Wednesday 15th June – The National Sailing Academy, Weymouth

The events will run from approximately 10:30am – 3:00pm, lunch will be provided.

Please could you respond to this message if you would like to attend one of the events letting me know your first and second choice of date and venue. We expect a high level of interest, so please reply by 21 April.

Kind regards

Catriona

Catriona Hunter

Assistant, Regional Planning

Arts Council England

Direct line: 01392 229209

Email: catriona.hunter@artscouncil.org.uk

Web: www.artscouncil.org.uk