On 30 March, Arts Council England announced the winners and losers in the new National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) for funding 2012-15. Here’s a-n’s take on what’s happened, the likely impact on artists, independent arts professionals and the arts ecology as well as highlights from some of the many comments and discussions that are in train.
Select committee reports are an acquired taste, but anyone with access to the internet and half a day to spare will find the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s recent report, Funding of the Arts and Heritage, and the evidence that informed it, an illuminating read. Published just two days before English arts organisations received results of their applications for Arts Council funding from 2012, it attracted a quick flash of publicity for some of its bolder conclusions and recommendations.