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The Story in Chronological Order:-

As you may know on the 15th March, the Arts Council of England announced:-

NEW ARTS COUNCIL OF ENGLAND TO BE CREATED

Streamlined support for the arts as current Arts Council and 10 Regional Arts Boards merge

The Arts Council of England today announced plans to unite with the 10 Regional Arts Boards to create a single arts funding and development organisation for all the arts in all parts of England.

The new Arts Council will deliver the following benefits:

·                      a simpler, quicker, more arts-friendly service to the arts community

·                      the ability to speak with one voice on behalf of all the arts

·                      more flexible funding decided at regional level

·                      administrative costs reduced, producing more money for the arts

·                      greater capacity to address needs and act on bold ideas for the arts throughout England

·                      greater capacity to develop partnerships with local authorities, regional development agencies, regional assemblies and others

The new Arts Council will have a strategic central office that is responsible for national arts leadership and is well-connected with the arts nationally and internationally. The regional offices will be responsible for regional partnerships and investment and front-line contact with the arts.

The new organisation will build on the success of both the Arts Council and the RABs in developing partnerships and levering new investment for the arts regionally and nationally.

This was backed up by three other documents:-

a prospectus for change             http://www.arts.org.uk/directory/arts_news/whatsnew/20010315a.html

how it will work                         http://www.arts.org.uk/directory/arts_news/whatsnew/20010315c.html

regional bodies etc                    http://www.arts.org.uk/directory/arts_news/whatsnew/20010315b.html

These 20 odd pages boil down to a change where instead of 11 separate piggy banks there is just one. This is the long and short of it. It’s not radical at all; it is exactly the same as say all the regional Co-op Supermarket chains becoming a single national organisation, or Blood Transfusion Service (comparable size, number of employees and budget – and they have recently gone from regional to national with tangible benefits to all concerned.)

Comment has not been against the six principles bullet pointed above.

However there has been considerable debate and concern expressed regarding the lack of specific and practical detail, and the virtual absence of consultation before the planned dissolution of the Regional Arts Boards at the end of May.

2nd April Steve Trow of Black Country Touring assembled views and a letter which went to Sally Luton, Chief Executive and Rod Chairman of West Midlands Arts:-

Joint Letter from arts organisations and artists in the West Midlands

 Dear Sally and Rod,

 ARTS FUNDING SYSTEM: PROPOSED CHANGES

 For consideration at the West Midlands Arts Board meeting on 4 April, we are writing to highlight our shared concerns in response to the Arts Council's announcement of proposed changes to the arts funding system.

 Several of us will also be writing separately with more specific responses from our own individual organisations. The purpose of this letter is to emphasise our shared desire for a credible process of consultation. We all believe that the need for such a process should inform particular decisions to be taken by the Board at Wednesday's meeting.

 We recognise that change is required. Relationships between the regions and the centre have too often been compromised by a lack of transparency, by conflicting priorities, and by over-bureaucratisation.  This in turn has inhibited real accountability to the region's artists, promoters and stakeholders.

 We therefore welcome what we understand to be the Secretary of State's desire to give "more genuine power to the regions". We also welcome the Arts Council's declared commitment that the 'regional voice' must be more clearly heard. We are consequently all the more alarmed that the creation of a single organisation should have been so summarily announced without even the most cursory consultation with the regional interests it ostensibly seeks to benefit.

 Specifically, we believe that the timetable and process of change, as currently proposed by the Arts Council, is misjudged and potentially counter-productive. It is in everyone's interest that the commitment to consultation should be seen to be real and that our aspirations, as a region, should be represented clearly and coherently.  

 West Midlands Arts Board is uniquely placed to be able to manage a credible consultation process and subsequently to represent a coherent, agreed view on the region's behalf. Yet the Arts Council currently proposes to dismantle the RAB by the end of April. To consult only after a single organisation has effectively already been formed would be to pre-empt discussion of important issues of principle. It would also atomise not only the arguments and representations of individual arts organisations and artists but also those of e.g. local authorities, other regional bodies and the Regional Cultural Consortium.

 Indeed, the Arts Council proposes to go further and suggests that no consultation will take place until 'stage three'. The intended early transfer of RAB staff to the new organisation will be to enable stage two to take place from May to July: this will be the period "when the new structure is designed and agreed".  For these three months staff are to be sworn to secrecy. So the future structure for our arts funding system - and for the distribution of public money - is to be negotiated and "agreed" by officers and staff only and will specifically disregard any representations any of the rest of us might wish to make.

 None of this augurs well for "the devolution of power to the regions" as envisaged by the Secretary of State or for the kinds of regional bodies he wishes to see as having real "credibility and clout".

 In summary, we therefore request that the Board:

 ·          Re-affirm its status as an independent entity and agree to remain as such until detailed proposals for the new structure have been finalised and have been agreed by the Secretary of State;

 ·          Decline the Arts Council's request to delay public consultation until July and instead launch an immediate and open process of regional consultations with artists, arts organisations and partners.

 ·          Invite the Arts Council to participate fully in that consultation process in order that this region's views can be heard not only in relation to regional structures but also in relation to the changes needed at the central, national level.

 In the time available, it has been possible for us to canvass the views of only a relatively small number of the arts organisations and artists of the region. We nevertheless believe that the concerns we have expressed will be shared by many others.

 Yours sincerely,

 Dave Bevan                              Director                                             Alive Network
Clare Edwards                          Director                                               ArtSites
Andy Dawson                         Project Manager                                ArtsNetOnline.com
Rachel Sutton                          Programme Director                          Arts & Media Training Coventry
Chris Cooper                            Artistic Director                                Big Brum TIE
Paul Kaynes                             Chief Executive                                  Birmingham Arts Marketing
Steve Trow                               Director                                               Black Country Touring
Rachel Freeman                       Artistic Director                                Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company
C & S Bolar                               Director & Gen. Manager                Chitreleka and Company
Stephen Maddock                   Chief Executive                                  City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Jonathan Stone                        Director                                               Courtyard Arts Centre
Colin Scott                                Assistant City Librarian                   Coventry City Library Service
Joanne Lowe                            Administrator                                    Custard Factory Theatre Co
Rose Beeston,                         Development Co-ordinator              DanceFest
David Massingham                 Artistic Director                                Dancexchange
Mike Layward                          Development Worker                       Disability Arts in Shropshire
Paul Udenze                             Chief Executive                                  The Drum
Sian Allen/Ian Kerry               Directors                                             Eventful Management
Naomi Cooke                            Artistic Director                                Foursight Theatre
Lee Griffiths                              Co-director                                         Funding Pending Live Arts
Bev Harvey                              Director                                               Jubilee Arts
David Fine                                Co-ordinator                                      Lit-Net
John Laidlaw                            Director                                               Live and Local
Sara Robinson                         Director                                               Ludlow Assembly Rooms
Dorothy Wilson                      Director                                               mac
Richard Hadley                        Director                                               Marketing Arts
Jane Sutcliffe                           Artistic Director                                Meta Physique Theatre
Glyn Edwards                           Secretary                                            Midlands Puppet Forum
Guy Hutchins                           Artistic Director                                Moby Duck
Louise Richards                       Executive Director                             Motionhouse
Rob Strawson                         Director                                               The Music Pool
Ellie Parker                                Director                                               New Theatre Works
Gwenda Hughes                      Artistic Director                                New Victoria Theatre
Richard Hayhow                      Director                                               Open Theatre Company
Christine Bridgwood               Co-ordinator                                      Poetry On Loan & WM Readers' Network
Mary Edwards                         Chair                                                    PuppetLink
Jacqueline Contré                    General Manager                               SAMPAD
Sheila Mainwaring                  Editor                                                  Shreds & Patches magazine
Roz Goddard                            Co-ordinator                                      Spouting Forth
Fiona Clayton                          Arts Officer                                        Stratford on Avon District Council
Andrew Jowett                        Director                                               Symphony Hall
Nic Millington                          Director                                               Rural Media Company
Jean Escott                              Arts & Entertmnt Manager             Telford & Wrekin Council
Claire Barry                               Assistant Project Manager             UCE Built Environment Faculty
Mark Renn/Mick Thacker     Visual Artists in Partnership
Alan Rivett                               Director                                               Warwick Arts Centre
Victoria Firth                            Administrative Director                   Women & Theatre
Louise James                            Asst County Arts Officer                Worcestershire County Council
Graham Radley                         Director                                               World Unlimited

 Clive Chandler                         Puppeteer
Mary Cutler                              Radio scriptwriter                   
Judith Cutler                             Novelist
Kate Gant                                  Arts consultant
Alison Haynes                        Arts Education Consultant
Steve Johnstone                      Actor/Director
Jenna Kumiega,                      JK Arts Management
Frances Land                           Actor
Graham Langley                       Storyteller
David Patten                            Artist
Pamela Wells                            Artist
Harold Wonham                      Writer/poet    

5th April

STATEMENT OF WEST MIDLANDS ARTS BOARD’S RESPONSE TO THE PROPOSALS FOR THE CREATION OF A NEW ORGANISATION, REPLACING THE ARTS COUNCIL AND REGIONAL ARTS BOARDS

The Board of West Midlands Arts met on 4^th April to consider the proposals for the creation of a new organisation, replacing the Arts Council and Regional Arts Boards, as set out in A Prospectus for Change.

The meeting was attended by Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, who provided further information to support the Arts Council's proposals and responded to the Board Members' questions. It was a constructive and challenging debate.

The Board accepts that improvements could be made to the way in which government funding for the arts is administered and the consistency of support which is offered to artists through the Regional Arts Boards and the Arts Council. However it was not persuaded, on the basis of the information currently available, that the Arts Council proposal is necessarily the best means to achieve these improvements. The Board therefore declines the request to transfer its assets and staff to the Arts Council until further information has been provided which enables it to fulfil its responsibility as an employer, an independent charity and a steward of the arts in this region.

The Board broadly supports the six objectives set out in the Prospectus but is keen to engage in further discussion and dialogue to ensure that any changes to the current structures are fully thought through to ensure that the benefits are evident and substantial, and that they outweigh the costs. The Board is disappointed by the approach which the Arts Council has taken in developing its prospectus and, in particular, the lack of consultation. This is contrary to the spirit with which West Midlands Arts strives to conduct its business. To this end, the Board intends to engage in a period of wide consultation with regional artists, arts organisations, partners and stakeholders. The detail of this consultation will be announced shortly.

In enthusiastically accepting the need for improvement in England's arts funding, the Board reaffirmed its commitment to continue to provide the highest possible standard of services in response to the needs of the arts community in the West Midlands.

It will seek to ensure that any new national organisation adheres to the values of openness, transparency and equality which are central to West Midlands Arts’ policies and code of conduct. The Board will want to be sure of a continuing and strong regional voice and a clearly defined mechanism for the formulation and implementation of policies which truly reflect the needs of the arts in the English regions.

The Board wishes to reassure artists and arts organisations in the region that planning commitments already made will be honoured and that every effort will be made to continue "business as usual".

Rod Natkiel
CHAIR

Sally Luton
CHIEF EXECUTIVE

 What Next?

West Midlands Arts has decided to decline the Arts Council's invitation to abolish itself (at least until a new structure has been approved by the Secretary of State) and to undertake immediate regional consultations. There should be a lively WMA Members Meeting at 10.00am on 26th April when this will be the main agenda item.

New Open Meeting 2.30pm at CBSO centre

New Sally Luton, WMA Chief Exec, has sent out a consultation document, with a set of key questions, and all comments and answers welcome - for its text:- http://www.arts.org.uk/directory/regions/west_mid/news/press_releases/20010409.html

Please send any comments or letters of support to Steve Trow SteveTrow@compuserve.com and/or Sally Luton, Chief Executive, West Midlands Arts sally.luton@west-midlands-arts.co.uk