1. Introduction

2. Overview & Partners

   1. Arts Partners
   2. Arts Strategy & Policy
   3. Groundwork's Arts Policy

3. Good Practice

4. Project Examples

5. Useful Contacts

6. Groundwork UK

Arts Partners

Partnership working is the norm within the arts sector – the expectation of arts funding agencies is that you will work with them and any other regionally or locally appropriate entities to deliver work that fits within a strategic approach and that is sustainable.

This section describes the main arts partners that you might expect to work with when developing a project or seeking funding. [compiled May 2004]

Arts Council England

Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts. They provide grants for the arts, including funding from the national lottery. The main source of funding is Grants for the Arts – under which organisations who use the arts as part of their work can apply for grants ranging from £200 up to a total of £100,000. Most grants are around £30,000 – having said that, the East Midlands Trusts secured a £95,000 grant over three years to employ artists – so don’t pitch too low!

Arts Council England is one large organisation with regional offices – details can be found on www.artscouncil.org.uk - and each regional office is split into departments dealing with the various specialisms including different artforms. It can be confusing, because the department with the remit for regeneration may not necessarily have the specialist knowledge of artists and companies – but will be able to refer you to the person who does. ACE provides support on a variety of levels – from guidance with strategy development through to advice on project planning, choice of artists and funding applications. It is useful to develop working relationships with a variety of officers at your regional office to get the maximum benefit from the organisation.

Arts Council England also have very strong relationships with local government at County and District level and work with Local Authority Arts Officers within the framework of local strategic partnership agreements. The benefit of contacting and working with Local and County Arts officers is that they have a huge amount of local knowledge of the art work going on at local level – a lot of which is extremely high quality participatory work – but not necessarily very high profile. Some local authorities will have Cultural Development officers, and some place responsibility for the arts within Sports and Leisure departments – you may have to do a bit of research to identify the right contact to work with.

Local Authorities

The benefit of contacting and working with Local and County Arts officers is that they have a huge amount of local knowledge of the art work going on at local level – a lot of which is extremely high quality participatory work – but not necessarily very high profile. Some local authorities will have Cultural Development officers, and some place responsibility for the arts within Sports and Leisure departments – your Arts Council England regional offices should be able to provide names of Local Authority Arts Development Officers in your region. (www.nalgao.org)

Arts Organisations and Artists

Local organisations / artists groups are a valuable resource and can often help in planning projects (and are experienced in doing this) and you can sometimes ask/pay someone to help you in the planning stages. This can help you get the detail right, without having to involve them in the whole project. Freelance artists / public art consultants can also bring in expertise that you may lack in relation to specific projects. The internet database of consultants - www.arts-consultants.org.uk - can be useful in this respect.

Other Arts Councils

Wales and Northern Ireland have their own Arts Councils – find them on www.artswales.org and www.artscouncil-ni.org respectively. They provide funding and specialist advice along much the same lines as Arts Council England, and there is a similar expectation to work strategically, sustainably and in partnership if funding is expected.

1. Groundwork Arts Toolkit

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