Shaping Policy
Achieving Great Literature for Everyone
Arts Council England's Ten Year Vision
Arts Council England is consulting the arts constituency on the directions it should take and the ways of working it should adopt over the next ten years.
NALD wants you to take part in the ACE process, you can access the documents and take part here. We have also created a space where literature professionals and activists can discuss ACE's vision, goals and priorities. We will be making our own submission based on the views you express here.
NALD asked Antonia Byatt, Director of Literature Strategy at Arts Council England, to introduce the process to NALD members ...
Antonia writes ...
Between now and 14 April we are consulting artists, arts organisations and other key stakeholders on future priorities for the arts. We will ask them about our understanding of the current landscape of the arts and the areas that need developing in the next ten years. The aim is to develop a long term view because that is how the arts develop, over time.
We will then combine what we learn from the consultation with our own research to finalise our thinking, which we will publish later this year. This framework will be a key tool to ensure that we have the best environment for creativity to flourish and for delivering our mission of great art for everyone.
There is a chapter about literature inside the consultation and it is really essential that people working as writers, promoters, educators, editors, librarians, literature entrepreneurs, leaders and many more, comment on the proposals. We have tried to focus arts council support where it can make a difference in a huge sector that includes huge commercial organisations but also big public sector players from broadcasters to libraries to higher education. We have already talked to many of you informally, and our suggestions for future focus have been informed by those conversations, but now we need your feedback and ideas to develop our plan for the future. Are we going in the right direction and what do you think needs to happen more specifically?
What we produce will be stronger if it is shared and informed by people working in the literature sector. It will help us develop a louder voice together and be more convincing to local and central government and to potential partners. It will help Arts Council direct its funding where it can be the most useful and most effective. We've kept the documents short, and I hope, readable. Please take some time to think and respond - it will be really important for us all.
