Arts Council England (ACE) requires a “radical” overhaul so that it is able to respond to the challenges of the culture sector, according to Margaret Hodge, who said if ACE leaders did not heed her warnings it would be a “disaster”.
The Labour peer, who led a wide-ranging and critical report into ACE, made the comments at a Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee, where she reiterated her calls for the organisation to embrace reform.
Lady Hodge said: “I think there has to be a radical review in the way that the Arts Council works; how they use the money; their role in relation to the organisations that they support and also their role in the wider arts landscape.”
She said that a significant shift in approach was needed because of the “loss of confidence in how ACE serves its own communities” caused in part because of the perception of political interference coming from government.
The decision to force the English National Opera to move from London to Manchester, was a “raw experience” for some of the 700 people she spoke to as part of her review.
“I hope the ACE takes on board [my recommendations] and don’t just pay lip service to what we’re doing,” Hodge added. “It will be a disaster if ACE just pays lip service.”
She said that ACE is perceived by the culture sector as “incredibly bureaucratic”, an organisation whose processes were “time consuming” and “stifle creativity”, while adding that it doesn’t provide enough support for institutions.
In order to restore trust between ACE and the organisations it serves, Hodge called for greater transparency between the secretary of state for culture and ACE – with all letters being made public.
Other recommendations included publicly funded theatre shows that go on to commercial success – such as the National Theatre’s War Horse – should give money back to ACE but this would need a change of the royal charter to enable ACE to set up a commercial arm.
There was also a call for touring tax relief to support orchestras, especially those operating in Europe where costs have soared after Brexit.
Hodge’s investigation into the national body for arts funding, which was released in December, found there had been a “loss of respect and trust” for ACE among those it backed, in part because of “perceived political interference in decision-making”.
At the time of the report’s release Hodge said: “There have been attempts to exert more political control over ACE decisions in recent years and this has to stop. The Arts Council must remain free from political interference.”
ACE is a non-departmental public body of the DCMS that distributes public funds to arts organisations ranging from national institutions to community-based ventures.
A straining in relations between ACE and the bodies it gives money to was a theme throughout Hodge’s report. “People viewed ACE as a command-and-control funding body, rather than a leader and facilitator in the cultural landscape,” it said.
One of the key missions highlighted in the review was the need to reduce bureaucracy, including by “radically” reforming ACE’s application and reporting requirements. It said ACE should reduce the number of its funding streams.
It also recommended lengthening the national portfolio organisations (NPO) cycle from three to five years, having a rolling programme of applications, and assuring certain organisations that they would receive at least 80% of their funding in the next round.
ACE is currently recruiting a new chair to replace Sir Nicholas Serota. When asked what three qualities his replacement needs, Hodge said they’d need to be a “change manager”, someone who “loved the arts” and a “great advocate” for the sector.