A Press Release for one of the building blocks for this very significant change in the funding of the Arts in London and the rest of the UK:

PRESS RELEASE 12/04/02

CALL FOR ARTS CHAMPIONS AND STRATEGISTS FOR LONDON

Nominations are being invited for a major new arts body in the capital. The London Arts Council is A NEW BODY, being formed following the merger of the Arts Council of England with the ten Regional Arts Boards, including London Arts, on 1 April 2002. Together, they now form a single national arts funding and development organisation.

The London Arts Council will oversee the work of the London office of the new organisation, which by April 2003 will distribute considerably increased resources in Government and Lottery funds for the arts in London. It will have additional decision-making powers at regional level, as well as contributing to the shaping of national policy in the arts. The London Arts Council will be made up of 15 members, including the Chair, who will represent London on the new National Council. An announcement on the appointment of the Chair is expected in early May. Nominations to six places for elected members are being invited from local authorities and the Greater London Authority. Applications for the remaining eight places are now invited; the deadline is 17 May 2002.

The Regional Executive Director for London, Nigel Pittman, said: 'We are looking for exceptional people with a real knowledge and interest in the arts and a perspective on London's position as a world cultural capital. The London Arts Council members will have the ability to command respect within the arts, to be committed and effective advocates for the arts, both publicly and with our regional partners, and to contribute to our strategic decision-making.

'We believe that it is vital that the London Arts Council reflects the remarkable cultural diversity of the capital. Applications are particularly welcome from ethnic minority communities that have been under-represented in the arts funding system in the past and from individuals with experience of arts and disability.

It is expected that members of the London Council will include practising artists (in any art form); arts managers; individuals from the commercial and business sectors; and those with expertise in fields such as media, education, regeneration, training, social inclusion and other sectors.

For further information on the role of the London Arts Council and the nomination process, please contact Claire Morpeth 020 7608 6157, minicom 7608 4100, or by mailto:claire.morpeth@lonab.co.uk>. Information is also available at www.arts.org.uk/londonarts. The closing date for nominations is Friday 17 May 2002.

For media enquiries, please contact Catriona Macrae-Gibson on 020 7608 6147 or by mailto:catriona.macrae-gibson@lonab.co.uk>

Notes to Editors

· The Arts Council of England is the national body for the arts, responsible for policy, research and advocacy. It receives grant-in-aid funding (£297 million in 2002/03 rising to £337 million in 2003/4) from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to develop, sustain and promote the arts, and is also a distributor of money raised through the National Lottery. The funding for arts organisations and artists has been made both directly and through funding distributed by the regional arts boards.

· Following the merger, from 1 April 2002, London Arts, the largest of the ten regional arts boards, has become the London office of the new arts funding and development body. During 2002/3, it will receive over £40 million in funding to distribute, including Lottery funds. It supports the arts through:

Grants to arts organisations on a fixed-term basis
One-off grants through open application to the London Arts Development Fund and London's Regional Arts Lottery Programme
Direct initiatives, often in partnership with other organisations

· The new national organisation (as yet unnamed) has nine regional offices, matching the Government's regional boundaries, and a national office. Each region will have a Council and the 15-strong National Council will include the Chair of each of the new Regional Councils.

· The Executive Board of the new organisation will be made up of the Chief Executive, Peter Hewitt, the existing nine Regional Executive Directors (Nigel Pittman is Interim Director for London), and for the present, the Executive Directors based in the National Office.




[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited April 12, 2002).]

<small>[ 05 February 2003, 05:40 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Where's the beauty in Ken's cultural strategy?
Rupert Christiansen for The Daily Telegraph spots an important omission in the London Mayor's latest announcement.


Yesterday morning, at City Hall, Ken Livingstone announced his cultural strategy for London. The heart sinks.

I'm no fan of the mayor's, but it's that word "strategy" which is the biggest turn-off. We've had so many strategies in recent years - bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomes, their pages swollen with appendices and tabulations and targets for delivery and mechanisms of consultation.

Where, I would like to know, are the corresponding tactics? Fifty strategies later, the capital's streets are still filthy, dangerous and choked with traffic; and I fear that our embattled arts organisations won't find that this latest proclamation from the Mayor of London will make their difficult lives a jot easier. The forecast is more form-filling, more red tape, more preconditions and only a wafer-thin coating of jam tomorrow.

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