Letter from Andrew Nairne

[honor]

Hi all,

Here is the letter Andrew Nairne - Executive Director of Arts at the
Arts Council - has sent in reply to the CODA letter.

best,

Honor


Delivered-To: ho...@va.com.au
From: Andrew Nairne <Andrew...@artscouncil.org.uk>
To: "'con...@coda2coda.net'" <con...@coda2coda.net>
Subject: Arts Council England - letter to CODA
Thread-Topic: Arts Council England - letter to CODA
Thread-Index: Acw7vHFjd55RvDFoRU+vkiezGbB4vQ==
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 09:09:43 +0000


6 July 2011

Dear Council of Digital Arts (CODA),

Thank you for your open letter of the 28th April 2011 regarding the
Arts Council’s approach to supporting digital arts practice, and the
process we used to make our National portfolio funding decisions.

I’d first like to respond to your questions about our policy for
supporting digital culture and our understanding of where artistic
practice and critical culture fit into our investment.

All of the Arts Council’s policies and investment decisions will, over
the next 10-years, be guided by Achieving great art for everyone, our
strategic framework for the arts.

As with many areas of our 10-year strategy, our policy around the
digital agenda is still being developed. We do envision that a
significant proportion of our investment in the digital agenda will be
based around Goal 2 of our 10-year strategy, which highlights our
desire for more people to experience and be inspired by the arts. Our
description of this goal directly references our intention to invest
in digital technology by saying ‘we will support those artists and
arts organisations presenting and promoting the arts in new and
inspiring ways, including through the use of touring and digital
technologies’.

The Arts Council is also strongly committed to supporting innovative
artistic practice, in all media and including digital arts, and this
will continue to happen through Grants for the arts, our open
application lottery fund, as well as through our National portfolio
investment.

We intend to actively support artists and arts organisations who are
seeking to deepen engagement with and reach new audiences through
digital technology, both as an arts practice and as a means to engage
with audiences in new ways.

Historically the Arts Council has provided significant support for
digital arts practice through Grants for the arts, with our numerous
grant awards for animation, artists moving image, sound art and new
media totalling over £4.3 million in 2010-11. This represents almost
6% of our total Grants for the arts investment for the year. This
support will continue, alongside our investment in our National
portfolio organisations and our Digital Fund, which we will use to
target investment in areas that will help us achieve our long-term
goals. This investment is likely to prioritise organisations,
initiatives and projects that contribute to our goal of more people
experiencing and being inspired by the arts, and our goal for the arts
to be sustainable, resilient and innovative. Through this combination
of our various funding streams, we want to create the conditions for
excellent art to be made and for as many people as possible to engage
with it.

In response to your question about how much of the Digital fund will
be invested in digital arts practice, details of this fund will be
finalised later this year, but investment is again likely to focus on
increasing reach and engagement, capacity building and strengthening
business models for arts organisations. Digital arts practice may in
many cases contribute to these aims but we will not be specifically
ring-fencing any part of the fund to specifically support this work.

Moving to your questions about how National portfolio decisions were
made, we believe we put in place a fair and thorough process for
assessing applications and for making what we knew would be very
difficult decisions. The Arts Council used its expertise to make
sound, effective judgments to create a portfolio that offers the best
possible artistic work to audiences across the country.

The decision-making process involved two distinct stages:

an assessment of each application on its own merits and its ability to
deliver against the goals set out in Achieving great art for everyone.
These assessments were undertaken by Relationship Managers with
particular expertise for their artforms

a balancing of the entire portfolio to achieve the best result for the
arts overall. Regional Councils reviewed initial proposals and area
management teams and senior staff from head office met to ensure there
was good a national overview

Final decisions on the overall National portfolio were taken by the
Arts Council's National Council.

Peer review was not part of the process for National portfolio
assessment as this approach would be difficult to apply in the context
of a very large nationwide decision process where peer group interests
and affiliations would be hard to regulate and monitor. We were also
confident that Arts Council staff had sufficient expertise to make
these difficult funding decisions, with our staff including many
Relationship Managers, who have come in to the organisation directly
from the sector. Some of whom, as recently as 2010, have been artistic
directors and critical commentators within the media and digital arts
field.

The Arts Council has a long and continuing tradition of supporting
organisations and work within our visual arts investment, including
digital arts, moving image and artists' film and video. Our National
portfolio continues this tradition; in what was a challenging funding
round where our grant-in-aid funding from government was reduced by
almost 30% we supported a significant number of organisations who play
a role in promoting digital innovation including Furtherfield, B3,
Blast Theory, Redeye, Axis, Impressions Gallery, Phoenix Arts,
Somerset Film and Video, Knowle West Media Centre, Threshold Studios,
Nottingham Media Centre (Broadway) and Berwick Film and Media
Festival.

In addition, media or cross-artform organisations are a key part of
the infrastructure for the development, production and distribution of
this kind of practice and these include FACT, Lighthouse, Cornerhouse,
and Watershed. The latter has received a major increase in funding,
with a remit to work with artists and organisations across a broader
base expanding its nationally significant role.
For those organisations whose National portfolio applications were not
successful, we will continue to discuss future opportunities for
funding and ways in which we can have a constructive relationship with
them. Alongside awarding funding through Grants for the arts, we will
work with partners, including the Higher Education sector, NESTA, and
commercial organisations, to identify and support further
opportunities for innovation in artistic practice and in-depth
critical discussion of such work and of the wider cultural context
that digital innovation is helping to shape.

We want to keep an open dialogue with all sections of the arts that
work closely with digital technologies. I therefore look forward to
working alongside CODA and the signatories of your letter as we
continue to look at how we can best support this important area of
work.

Best wishes,

Andrew Nairne
Executive Director, Arts
Arts Council England



Work: 020 7973 5104
Mobile: 07850 923 407

Follow me on twitter: @andrewnairne


http://www.artscouncil.org.uk

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