Arts Council England 2018-2022 investment emphasis

Arts Council England’s 2018-22 investment emphasises geography & diversity.

ACE has announced budgets for its 2018 to 2022 investment period, alongside sector guidance for applying to its National Portfolio. The Arts Council has set a budget of £622m per year across lottery and grant in aid for its three main funding streams: the National Portfolio, Grants for Arts and Culture and strategic funds. The application portal for the National Portfolio will open on 26 October 2016 and briefings for those who may wish to apply are taking place across the country.

A budget of £409 million will be available each year between 2018-22 for their National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs). This will include £341 million of grant-in-aid and £68 million of National Lottery funding. An increase of £37 million per annum on the previous investment period (2015-18) will be used to help support the Arts Council’s ambition of achieving a 4% points uplift in the proportion of the NPO budget spent outside London; support the integration of museums and libraries, for arts and museums’ activity into our portfolio; and bring new, small and diverse organisations into the portfolio.

The open access Grants for Arts & Culture funding stream will see an increase in budget of £10 million per annum to £87.5 million during this investment round. The increase will help support the integration of museums and libraries, who will now be able to apply to this funding stream for museums’ activity for the first time. It will also continue to help support thousands of individual artists, community and cultural organisations.

Strategic funds investment will remain broadly the same at £125 million per annum. The Arts Council’s strategic funds will continue to address gaps in the sector, such as enhancing diversity and increasing the reach of art and cultural activity in areas with low levels of engagement.

Darren Henley, Chief Executive of ACE said: “We’ve planned a budget that lets us reach more people in new ways. We’ll increase investment outside London without damaging the capital; fund more new, small and diverse organisations. And museums, libraries and arts organisations will apply to us on a more level playing field. Everybody deserves to benefit from Arts Council investment, wherever they are, whatever their background. Our plans through to 2022 show we mean it when we talk about great art and culture for everyone. Our budget is based on a welcome standstill settlement from government and we plan to spend down current lottery reserves. We’ve been ambitious in our plans but our funding position remains very tight. We need our money to stretch much further, and we’ll have to revisit the spreadsheets if the financial picture deteriorates in the future.”