Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
Paper
A refreshed approach to
international work
For
Date
Agenda item
Presented by
Authors
Attachments
Executive Board
21 October 2013
8
Nick McDowell
Nick McDowell and Nicola Smyth
Appendix One: Budget proposal 2014/15 – 2017/18
1. Purpose
1.1
This Autumn, the Arts Council publishes its refreshed ten-year strategy to 2020,
Great Art and Culture for Everyone. The refreshed strategy describes our
aspirations to support cultural exchange, so that the best of international arts
and culture is being enjoyed regularly by the public in this country, and the best
of our arts and culture finds new audiences from overseas. This paper sets out
in outline, how we propose to make this happen. It seeks EB support for the
current direction of travel in order for staff to prepare more detailed work on
specific programmes.
1.2
The principles and ambitions expressed in this paper have been evolving over
the last few months since the appointment of the Arts Council’s first
International Director. In the last few weeks, a source of lottery funding to
support the delivery of many of them has emerged in the form of a rebate from
the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund (OLDF). The Secretary of State and our
National Council have agreed in principle that £18m of this rebate is to be spent
on organisations working internationally, with an emphasis on cultural export.
This paper sets out in headline terms how the £18m might be allocated.
2. Recommendations
2.1 Executive Board is asked to:
(a) Discuss and comment on the refreshed approach set out in sections 5-10
(b) To comment on the priorities identified for investing £18m of OLDF money in
sections 6-8 and appendix one
(c) Agree specific budget proposals for Re:Imagine India and AIDF in section 7
and appendix one
(d) Agree next steps as set out in section 12
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
3. Implications
Arts Council
Mission,
Objectives and
Values
Staffing
Finance and
business support
These proposals contribute to Achieving Great Art and Culture for
Everyone, addressing all five goals to some extent but particularly goals
one and three.
The proposals promote and enact our collaborative approach – our
ambitions in the international arena will only be achieved through
successful partnerships (British Council, UKTI, IFACCA, BFI, and others).
These proposals, if agreed, are likely to require additional engagement by
staff. SRMs and RMs will need to extend their involvement from the two
current international schemes (Tier One Exceptional Talent and Promise;
AIDF) to work with the Cultural Contact Point from 2014, and to assess
applications for Strategic funding (export, exchange and showcasing). If,
as we propose, International work is referenced in funding agreements
where appropriate, there will be additional monitoring and riskmanagement requirements. And inevitably the roll out of any new strategic
funds will have an impact on the Investment Centre. Advocacy,
partnership-building and pursuing EU opportunities will all require staff
time.
We will need to monitor the impact of this extended international
programme on the workload of all staff involved.
The majority of the proposals would be funded with lottery money via a
rebate from the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund. We have agreed with
DCMS in principal to earmark £18m of the £21m rebate as a cultural
export and exchange fund.
We are permitted to spend lottery money on international work so long as
it benefits arts organisations and audiences in the UK in some way (in
some cases the benefit will be deferred). Predominantly, it is by making
those organisations stronger and by investing in their resilience through
the chance to trade abroad and fundraise abroad. The exchange
elements of the programme will also benefit English audiences by bringing
leading international artists to this country to create and present work.
In designing the programme, we will need to ensure that it complements,
rather than replaces, the work of organisations like the British Council and
UKTI. We will also need to design it in such a way that it doesn’t simply
subsidise companies that can already afford to tour internationally.
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
Communication
Legal
Equality and
diversity
Environmental
impact
Our refreshed approach to international work will be of consequence to
our strategic partners – British Council, UKTI, BBC (re The Space). We
will work within the spirit of our MoU with the British Council, sharing our
approach with them before we make it public.
These proposals are relevant to our NPO and MPM organisations and
propose encouraging these organisations to be explicit about the artistic
and resilience elements of their international activity. We expect some
funding agreements for 2015/16 onwards specifically to reference
international outcomes. We will consider opportunities to include specific
questions relating to international work in the annual survey of funded
organisations.
We already use British Council staff as expert advisers and commenters
on the AIDF programme. Some of these proposals will extend that
principal and we will need to clarify how close to the decision process they
can be as partners, without infringing our legal accountability for the
distribution of lottery funds.
Creating a strengthened environment for arts and cultural organisations to
work internationally will help us to deliver the Creative Case through an
exchange of diverse work, practice, influences and ideas. It also supports
the import of more diverse work for English audiences.
This strategy does involve international travel for artists and cultural
organisations. However, it also aims to significantly enhance digital
delivery and digital showcasing for artists on an international platform,
which could have a positive impact in reducing the carbon footprint.
4. Background
4.1
The 2008 McMaster Review asked ACE, the British Council and DCMS to “work
together to investigate and implement an international strategy that stimulates
greater international exchange, brings the best of world culture here and takes
the best of our culture to the world”.
4.2
London 2012 was an international showcase for the best of English arts and
culture and created the platform for refreshed ambitions.
4.3
ACE’s settlement letter from DCMS for 2015-16 includes five priority areas, one
of which is focused on international work:
“Supporting international cultural exchange and building relationships which
help develop the culture sector in this country and assist export promotion in that
sector, as well as contributing to England’s image abroad, including through the
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
GREAT campaign.”
4.4
We believe that international working is important to the health of the English
arts ecology and economy. Through the MOU with the British Council, ACE has
agreed to:
-
Advocate the value of internationalism to the English arts sector and contribute
to critical and policy debate on the arts and internationalism
Support international exchange, helping artists and arts organisations to see
the connection between local and global
Encourage international artists, producers and curators to make and show
work in England
Stimulate international touring by English organisations (recognising the value
of the business resilience which can result)
These principles will also apply to work across our wider cultural footprint.
4.5
ACE’s refreshed strategy document foregrounds two main ambitions for its
international work. The first is to ensure that the best of our artists and cultural
organisations are working overseas more regularly than at present, and that the
best of international arts and culture is being enjoyed by audiences here (Goals
one and two). The second is to work with our partners to ensure that our artists
and organisations develop new markets and mechanisms for export and
distribution (Goals two and three).
4.6
Our newly refreshed strategy also reflects our wider responsibilities to work
across a broader cultural footprint. Museums in the UK have the most
international-facing collections of any in the world - not just in our larger national
institutions, but in many regional and local museums. There is evidence of
growing international demand for the touring of our collections, particularly into
those countries from which they originate.
5. Our starting point
5.1
Our international policy approach will focus on the key principles of export
growth and cultural exchange, and the role played by partnership in enabling
us to deliver on those ambitions.
5.2
We already support a wide range of international activity through our NPO and
MPM portfolio: we fund touring of artistic work and collections, partnerships and
co-commissions, residencies and exchanges. Some of this international work is
also funded through Grants for the arts. Over the coming period, we will gather
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
and disseminate data evidencing this work so that we can advocate for and
raise awareness of our work to date.
5.3
The rapid development in digital technologies presents huge opportunities to
reach out to and engage new audiences both at home and abroad. It offers
entirely new ways in which to approach export growth and cultural exchange.
5.4
Our own recent SWOT exercises have revealed the differences in opportunities
for international work across the country. Relationships are often as much about
the interplay between cities as they are about nation-states. We need to decide
how we give space on the world stage to rural voices alongside urban ones;
how we celebrate regional differences as well as the culture of the conurbation.
5.5
The DCMS has clearly signalled its focus on the export market for our cultural
product. There is much work already taking place by and with the BC, UKTI and
others. But we believe that far greater returns could be unlocked by further
investment of funding through the Arts Council which would help to grow
significantly the market for English arts and cultural work abroad.
5.6
The DCMS will return to us up to £21 million from the Olympic Lottery
Distribution Fund, of which £18m has been ring-fenced by agreement between
our National Council and the DCMS for cultural export and exchange. We have
put to DCMS, and to our National Council, some initial ideas - around increased
support for touring, showcasing, digital distribution and exchange – and will
develop these over the coming months.
6. Export
6.1
Overview
OUT OF SCOPE
6.2
A more strategic approach to international showcasing
OUT OF SCOPE
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
6.3
Export Growth through new initiatives
6.3.1 Cultural Calendar
OUT OF SCOPE
6.3.2 CYP and exports
OUT OF SCOPE
7. Exchange
7.1
The importance of cultural exchange
OUT OF SCOPE
7.2
Artists International Development Fund (AIDF)
7.2.1 This scheme was established in 2012 and is jointly run with the British Council.
Evaluation feedback to date suggests it has been hugely valued by the sector.
But the success rate is low (currently 10 per cent) and the running costs
proportionately very high. The criteria for the fund are narrow at the moment:
feedback has raised issues around the exclusion, for example, of formal
residency schemes. Round Five of AIDF (which closed on 4 October) is being
run through GftA Lane One for the first time, which will bring down the
administrative cost per grant.
7.2.2 We believe that additional resource is needed to open up the criteria and
increase the success rate. The British Council is willing to increase co-funding
and has offered an additional £220,000 in 2013/14.
7.2.3 We hope to increase the overall budget for AIDF to £1m per year for 2014/15
and the following three years. The ACE 50% would come from the OLDF
rebate, and we will ask the British Council to match this figure.
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
Recommendation:
For now, we specifically request approval for an additional £220,000 for the first
round of 2014/15, to match the £220,000 offered by the British Council for the
final round of 2013/14.
7.3 Visas – promoting exceptional talent and promise
7.3.1 ACE has a relatively new role as a gateway for international artists seeking to
come here with our appointment as one of the Home Office’s Designated
Competent Bodies, endorsing or rejecting Tier One Visa applications. This role
expanded on 1 October 2013 as the current Exceptional Talent route was joined
by one for Exceptional Promise – a relaxing of the current criteria to embrace a
greater number of individuals from the cultural world beyond our borders.
7.4 Transform / Re-imagine India
7.4.1 In 2012, as one of the legacy programmes of the Cultural Olympiad, the Arts
Council agreed to work with the British Council on Transform, a cultural
programme designed to promote exchange between UK and Brazilian artists in
the run up to the Rio Olympics.
7.4.2 We are now proposing to draw on the lessons learnt from Transform to start a
second country-specific programme with the British Council. Re-imagine India
will provide English artists and arts organisations to develop an exchange
programme with their counterparts in India. The proposal is to launch a twophased, managed call for projects through a strategic fund using lottery money.
BC will provide expert advice on setting criteria and making decisions. We will
administer the awards. Activity will build towards a 2017 showcase to coincide
with the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence, though there will also be
attention given to the legacy of relationships developed through the projects.
The development phase, with a budget of £500,000, will support 10-15
organisations to research and develop plans [2014-15]. The project phase, with
a budget of £1m, will make seven or eight awards to the strongest projects in
2015-16, for activity in 2017-18.
7.4.3 Following our work with BC in the BRIC territories of Brazil and India, we expect
to collaborate on another country initiative with BC at some point during the
period 2015-18.
7.4.4 The British Council has committed £5m to the Re:Imagine project and is
fundraising from partners.
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
Recommendation:
We seek EB approval to commit £1.5m now (resourced from the OLDF rebate -see appendix one) to enable us to do detailed design work with British Council
on a Re:Imagine India strategic fund.
7.5 Touring of international work in England
OUT OF SCOPE
8. Creative Media
OUT OF SCOPE
9. Partnerships
OUT OF SCOPE
10. What will success look like?
10.1 Drawing on the measures outlined in our refreshed strategy document, we
believe we will be able to show, as a result of our investment, development and
advocacy work, that:



More artists, cultural organisations and museums based in England are
exporting their work internationally and visitors cite the arts and culture as a
reason to visit England
More people in England will have the opportunity to experience or participate in
great art and culture from around the world
Arts organisations, museums and libraries have increased the share of their
income which comes from a wider range of contributed or earned income
sources overseas, particularly through EU funds
The leadership and workforce of the arts and cultural sector is diverse and
appropriately skilled, reflecting an international exchange of people, knowledge
and ideas, as well as our expertise in learning
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8

More children and young people have the opportunity to experience high quality
arts and cultural experiences, involving international artists, organisations or
work
10.2 The initial impact will be greatest against goals one and three. There will be
delivery against the other three goals over the medium to long-term.
10.3 We will have increased our understanding of the economic and cultural impact
of export and exchange. Research - perhaps in partnership with the British
Council and UKTI - in year one could sharpen our planning for investment in
years two and three. In tandem with the above, we will undertake robust
evaluation. Existing provision will be benchmarked in year one [2014], with the
potential inclusion of additional questions in the NPO annual report. We will
complete bespoke evaluations on the impact of our work with the British
Council, particularly on Re:Imagine India, AIDF and showcasing.
11. Budgets & Process
11.1 Our budget proposals (see Appendix One) for Cultural Export, Cultural
Exchange, Digital Capture and Showcasing currently sit on separate lines for
indicative purposes. The strands aggregate to £18m of lottery spend over four
years (2014-8).
11.2. We propose that once the OLDF rebate is confirmed that we consult further with
the sector and with partner organisations. We would then work with colleagues
in the Investment Centre to design appropriate funding programmes &
mechanisms to deliver the new initiatives outlined above. The detail of these
programmes would be brought back to EB and National Council as appropriate
for approval. We propose that the bulk of this programme is launched in
October 2014, although we will need immediate approval of the commitment to
Re-imagine India (£1.5m) in order to commence detailed negotiations with BC.
11.3 While the OLDF rebate-funded lottery programme would cover the bulk of the
expenditure proposed here, there are a number of other important areas –
advocacy and partnership-building – which require no direct investment, as well
as some others (co-funding the Cultural Contact Point and the Cultural
Calendar for which we request investment of additional GiA.
11.4 We continue to see the British Council as key partners in the distribution of
these funds, and plan to invite their comments on applications and their expert
advice in decision making (subject to legal advice).
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
12. Next Steps
12.1
Agree the detail of the OLDF spend with the DCMS
12.2
Circulate this paper to Area Councils for comment in October/November
12.3 Include key headlines in NPO briefings in November as part of suite of strategic
funds that will run alongside NPOs, MPMs and GFTA. This will require
consideration of the comms issues around using lottery funds for international
work.
12.4 Consult with the sector by area to help shape our approach to export and
exchange investment during November and December 2013.
12.5
Work further with the British Council on agreeing the scope of Re-imagine India
12.6
Work further with the British Council and UKTI on agreed approach to (and
investment in) showcasing and other export initiatives
12.7
Develop detailed programmes and funding mechanisms (Jan-March 2014) for:
 Refreshed AIDF
 Reimagine India
 Showcasing
 Other export support (including touring)
 Cultural Exchange
 Creative Media
In the design of these programmes, we will look for opportunities to work via
commissioned & solicited grants through trusted external parties where
possible, as well as to draw on the experience of previous strategic funds
initiatives such as Audience Focus. The aim will be to have a delivery
mechanism in place that recognises the constrained resource regime that the
Arts Council now needs to work within.
12.8
Seek governance approval from Executive Board and National Council as
appropriate for the detailed programme during 2014.
Title
Author
Version
Date of version
A refreshed approach to international work
Nick McDowell and Nicola Smyth
2
10 October 2013
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Executive Board 21 October 2013 – Item 8
Appendix One: Budget 2014/15 to 2017/18
Lottery
In millions
2014-15
Lottery
2015-16
Lottery
2016-17
Lottery
2017-18
Lottery
TOTAL by
project
AIDF
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
2.00
Showcasing
0.50
1.00
1.00
0.50
3.00
Cultural Exchange
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
4.00
BC: India
BC: Other country
focus
Export (incl touring)
Creative Media for
Cultural Export
TOTAL by year
0.50
1.00
Year
1.50
0.50
1.00
1.50
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
4.00
0.50
0.50
0.50
0.50
2.00
4.00
5.00
4.50
4.50
18.00
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