Do you know your LAA from your LSP? Can you describe how the NIS was designed to feed the CPA? If your answer to these questions is ‘yes’, you either work for a Local Authority in England or don’t get out much. Or possibly both. If your answer is ‘no’, read on...
For mere mortals, in plain English, in 2007 Local Authorities and their strategic partners had to choose a basket of targets for their area. Several chose increasing engagement in the arts. The final data came out yesterday. None of them hit their target. Is this a disaster?
No. The targets were very high (for boring statistical reasons) and the time to deliver them was unrealistically short. But what the process of trying to think how to address the targets did do was get Local Authorities working more closely together and working more closely with arts organisations and other partners. It radically increased skills in the use of data by many local authorities. It increased the visibility of the arts in Local Authorities, and in some places it increased resources for the arts. And, perhaps most importantly, it got everyone involved thinking about who does and who doesn’t engage with the arts and what are the barriers to participation and attendance.
The skills and partnerships developed through this process may lead to some impact in future years, if there is any meaningful arts and cultural capacity left in Local Authorities after the forthcoming cuts. Let’s hope so. The data collected to set these targets showed a huge divide between local areas. Twice as many people took part in the arts in Camden as Barking & Dagenham in 2008. The same is true in 2010. If increasing engagement continues to be a priority (which ACE’s 10-year strategic plan says it is), we should have better news to report in 2020.
David Brownlee, Chief Executive, Audiences UK
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