What are the Arts Councils and what do they do with your money

Q. What arts funding bodies are there in the UK

A. There are four separate arts councils in the UK: the Scottish Art Council, the Arts Council of Wales, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council of England.

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These councils distribute public money granted by the Government towards arts activities, including audience development, broadcast and new media, collaborative arts, dance, drama, literature, music, touring and visual arts.

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The English council is the biggest and distributes funds through ten regional arts boards as well as directly.

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Q. So, in England, you can apply twice for the same project

A. Theoretically you can apply for assistance through your regional body, say the London Arts Board, as well as directly from the Arts Council itself for the same enterprise, though you may be applying for funding for different aspects. For example a publisher might apply to the central body for a translation grant and the regional one for assistance with marketing. Receiving money from one does not preclude funding from the other.

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Q. How much money is there to be had

A. The grant from Government to the English council for 2001-2 is �252 million. This figure has been growing year on year as New Labour seeks to carry out its stated commitment to increasing arts funding. Of this, �104.2 million is delegated to the regional arts boards.

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Q. What about the National Lottery

A. In addition to the money from the Treasury over �200 million of National Lottery money will be made available to the Council. The Arts Council is the National Lottery Distributing Body for the arts in England.

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The Lottery currently generates funds for six 'good causes': the arts, sport, heritage, charities, projects to mark the new millennium and the New Opportunities Fund. At least a quarter of the income from Lottery ticket sales is paid into the National Lottery Distribution Fund, which is divided between these good causes.

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Q. Where exactly does the Lottery money go

A. Income from lottery this financial year will be used for: the new Arts Capital Programme (�88m); stabilisation and recovery programmes (�15m each); the National Touring Programme (�10m); the Regional Arts Lottery Programme (�25m); the National Foundation for Youth Music (�10m); and Awards for All (�5m), as well as towards completion of the first capital programme.

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Q. Which Government department is in charge of arts funding

A. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), captained since the last election by Tessa Jowell.

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Q. What's the history of the Arts Council

A. The Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) was a direct descendent of the Committee ('Council' from April 1940) for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) which was formally set up by Royal Charter in January 1940. ACGB was established, and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1946. On 1 April 1994 ACGB's responsibilities and functions were transferred to three new bodies, the English, Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland had already been established as a separate body.

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Q. Hasn't a radical shake-up at the English council been promised

A.�In March 2001 the Arts Council of England unveiled plans to merge with the country's ten regional arts boards to create a 'single funding body for all the arts' in England.

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Q. Why

A. To simplify the current arts funding system and to 'lever yet more funding for the arts from government and other sources'. However, the down side to this could be less regional representation and an unwieldy centralised bureaucracy, a criticism that has already been levelled at the existing structure.

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For more detailed information on the Arts Council of England and its activities (and links to the regional and other English national boards) go to

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/

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For further details of all lottery awards see the DCMS lottery website http://www.lottery.culture.gov.uk

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For more on Arts & Literature click here

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By Simon Smith