The view to 2030 from Arts Council England

Arts Council England has commissioned Nesta to produce a future-focused report, identifying key trends, impacts, challenges and opportunities for the arts and cultural sector. This report, and your response to it, will contribute to the development of the Arts Council’s next ten-year strategy, which will run from 2020 to 2030. The new strategy, like the current one, Great art and culture for everyone, will provide the rationale for our investment in arts and culture, and for the way in which we fulfil our development and advocacy roles.

The first phase in creating the new strategy involves an extensive process of research and analysis, alongside actively soliciting and listening to the views of the public, the arts and culture sector, partners, stakeholders and others. We are committed to ensuring that the strategy is based on robust evidence and a sound understanding of the needs and perspectives of particular groups in our society.

We think that it is vital to consider the nature of the society in which we will be living and working in 2030. This Nesta report provides an insightful consideration of intelligence, data, evidence and provocations to explore what changes might take place, and what the likely or possible impact on our sector might be. It considers the way artists, organisations and the wider public make, share and experience culture, and the trends which are likely to affect our workforce and audiences.

Framing the debate

We will use the report to help stimulate and frame the debate and to explore key issues with the sector, partners, stakeholders and the public.

Hopefully you might also find it useful as a tool to think about what the future holds for your own practice or organisation, and how you can confidently embrace the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. We all need to consider what changes to put in place now in order to ensure a creative, diverse, strong, resilient arts and culture sector in the future.

So please do read it, share it with colleagues, with your board and more widely, and then tell us what it means for you, for organisations or artists that you work with, for audiences and for the sector in general. We are running a conversation until 12 April 2018, which explores the big questions and themes which will be key to the strategy so please do go online here to join in www.artscouncil.org.uk/haveyoursay

Then, come the autumn, we will consult on a draft strategic framework, before publishing the final strategy in 2019.

Michelle Dickson, Director of Strategy, Arts Council England