The arts debate: Stage one findings and next
steps
February 2007
Catherine Bunting
Contents
1 Introduction
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2 Public attitudes to the arts
2.1 Broad feelings and perceptions
2.2 Barriers to engagement
2.3 What are ‘the arts’ these days?
2.4 Public value of the arts
2.5 Attitudes to funding
2.6 The role of the Arts Council
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3 The views of our staff
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4 Next steps
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1 Introduction
The arts debate is Arts Council England’s first-ever public value inquiry. It is a
large-scale programme of research, consultation and debate to explore what
people value about the arts. The arts debate involves members of the public,
artists, arts organisations, and a wide range of our other stakeholders. Its purpose
is to help the Arts Council map how we can do things differently in the future to
create greater value for all the communities we serve.
Overall the arts debate aims to answer the following key questions:
 How is public value currently created by the arts?
 What would it mean for the Arts Council and the individuals and organisations it
funds to create greater value for the public?
 How can we balance the aspirations of the public with the needs of other
stakeholders, particularly the artistic community and our partners in central and
local government?
The first stage of the arts debate ran from October to December 2006. We started
the process with three internal workshops to see how our staff understand the
value of the arts and the role of the Arts Council. We then commissioned a series
of 20 discussion groups with members of the public across the country to explore
broad public attitudes to the arts and their funding. Participants were recruited to
cover all life stages and socio-economic groups and different levels of
engagement with the arts, from those with little or no interest to those who are
highly active.
This paper does not go through the findings of this research in full as they are
covered in great detail in a separate report by independent research agency
Creative Research1. Rather, this paper explains briefly what the Arts Council has
learned so far and what we would like to know next. Section two contains a
summary of broad public attitudes to the arts. Section three examines the views of
our staff and section four sets out the design for the next stage of research and
consultation, which begins in February 2007.
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See The Arts Debate: Findings of Research among the General Public, Creative
Research 2007, available at www.artsdebate.co.uk
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2 Public attitudes to the arts
2.1 Broad feelings and perceptions
In the first part of the research participants in the public discussion groups
described their broad attitudes to and relationship with the arts. We learnt that for
many the arts are a real source of happiness, joy, fun, relaxation and learning.
They are seen as an important aspect of life outside work and a means of escape
from everyday pressures and difficulties. It was also important for us to
understand the responses of those that currently have little or nothing to do with
the arts. Here there were some quite powerful negative feelings – a sense of being
excluded from something that others enjoy, which in turn creates resentment and
hostility. For some people, a lack of engagement with the arts is actually part of
their identity – they ‘don’t do the arts’. Positive or negative, most people had a
strong emotional response of some sort to the subject matter. Very few people
were totally indifferent, which we believe to be a positive starting point for a
national debate about the value of the arts.
We were struck by the importance of the social aspect of the arts. People
associate the arts with friendship, spending time with family and a sense of a
shared experience. Often people come to art in the first place through these social
networks and dynamics.
Attitudes to the arts are generally seen as being moulded in childhood – certainly
through parents and teachers, but many people could also remember a particular
experience that changed their outlook, or a particular artist that they admired and
were influenced by. The researchers also learnt a lot about how tastes and ways
of engaging with the arts change with age. For example, they found a real appetite
for arts and culture developing among retired groups as people find space and
time to pursue their interests.
2.2 Barriers to engagement
The public discussion groups generated some fascinating insights into the barriers
to engagement with the arts. There was a general feeling among most participants
that accessibility isn’t a problem – the arts are there if you want them. It’s more a
question of motivation. At first people focused on tangible barriers such as time
and cost, but as the conversation unfolded the researchers found something more
complex. It appears that the real barriers are psychological rather than physical.
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The arts are a risk – and that can put people off. Members of the discussion
groups described a reluctance to try something new in the arts because they’re
afraid that they might not enjoy it, or that it won’t be ‘worth it’. This seems to be
particularly true if it’s an activity that none of their friends or peers (‘people like
them’) are involved in. And these fears are often compounded by intellectual or
social concerns: what if I don’t understand it or know how to respond? What if I
don’t fit in? What if people look down on me? And – when it comes to active
participation – what if I’m no good? As the uncertainties build up, the arts become
a risk that not everyone is willing to take.
The researchers concluded that the most important barriers to greater
engagement with the arts are therefore psychological rather than physical, and
that if we want to encourage more people to get involved with the arts then we
have to find more powerful ways to reassure people that the arts are and can be
for them.
2.3 What are ‘the arts’ these days?
Participants in the groups were asked what they thought counts as ‘art’ these
days. As expected, this provoked a lot of debate and there was very little
consensus. Immediate responses tended to focus on visual or fine art, but once
the discussion got going most people developed a much wider view. The
researchers found that the more people are involved with art in the first place, the
broader their definition tends to be. There was plenty of heated debate about
whether advertising, sport, nature, cooking and science could be forms of art. In
the end most groups concluded that art wasn’t a total free-for-all and that there
were some tangible criteria that made something a work of art. The researchers
grouped these loosely as:
 an original, creative idea
 effort and skill on the part of the artist
 how the audience understands and responds to the piece.
The researchers went on to ask people what they thought constituted ‘the arts’
these days. Are the arts simply a collection of all the different things we think of as
art, or are they something different? We were interested to learn that people have
a much narrower view of ‘the arts’. They are perceived as a smaller set of clearly
defined and more traditional activities – theatre, ballet, art galleries. For many
people ‘art’ is part of the fabric of their lives, while ‘the arts’ are something
institutional, and separate from their day-to-day experience of the world.
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Clearly the terms ‘art’ and ‘the arts’ have different connotations, and as the
discussion moved on to cover areas such as benefit and value it was important to
understand how people were approaching the subject matter. Were they
considering the value of ‘art’ or ‘the arts’? The researchers continued to use the
term ‘the arts’ to guide the discussion, but we believe that participants
unconsciously developed their own working definition of the term to help them
navigate their way through the conversation. For many this definition would have
encompassed a much wider range of activities than those currently supported by
public funding.
2.4 Public value of the arts
A large part of the public discussion groups focused on the perceived benefits of
the arts and our researchers concluded that there was no doubt that the arts offer
enormous public value. For almost all participants, the concept of a world without
the arts was unthinkable or abhorrent – a boring, bland, dark place with more
aggression and less individuality. There was also almost universal recognition of
the importance of exposing children to the arts, both for their own sake and for that
of wider society.
Our groups proposed and considered a wide range of possible benefits of the arts,
from their role as a source of national pride and a magnet for tourists through to
their contribution to education and social cohesion. There were areas of benefit
that most people recognised and agreed on quite naturally, and collectively these
areas form an intuitive and credible concept of the public value of the arts. The key
components are:
 pleasure and enjoyment
 enrichment – or ‘food for the spirit’
 communication – a means of self-expression and of communicating with others
 sense of identity – both for individuals and for communities
 improved health and wellbeing
Interestingly, these areas of benefit were acknowledged even by those who
currently have little or nothing to do with the arts.
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2.5 Attitudes to funding
Overall the researchers found broad support for the idea that the government
should support the arts. The arts are seen as important and valuable and so an
appropriate use of taxpayers’ money. There was much more debate about how
public money should be spent on the arts. Who makes the decisions? What are
the outcomes? And who benefits? We were interested to learn that how people
value the arts – in terms of their own personal enjoyment – can be quite different
to how they value the outcomes of public expenditure on the arts.
The researchers discovered that when it comes to the question of public funding,
most people naturally adopt a strong sense of the public good. The arts
organisations and activities that people value the most have tangible social
benefits, particularly for the more disadvantaged groups in society. People feel
that public funding should reach as large and diverse a number of people as
possible and that it should result in enjoyable, maybe challenging, experiences
that people really get something out of. And the benefits of public funding should
be lasting, either by creating a work of art or an experience that stays with people,
by having a lasting impact on their knowledge and understanding or by finding
ways for the funded activity to sustain itself without further subsidy.
In most discussion groups there was some debate about the funding of large
national arts organisations. Most participants recognised the value of supporting
organisations that form an important part of our cultural heritage. They can be
seen as a source of pride, and as an important means of nurturing the next
generation of talent. However, participants also felt that it is important for these
organisations to seek to widen their access through strong audience and
education programmes.
The groups considered the value of awarding grants to individual artists, which
raised a number of interesting issues. Are the benefits limited to the individual, or
are there benefits to wider society? With so many aspiring artists out there, how do
public funders make decisions about where to award funds? We will be interested
to explore these questions in more depth in the next stage of the arts debate.
Public art and conceptual art were also areas that provoked strong reactions. Not
everyone saw the value in public art, although there was recognition that some
pieces come to be appreciated over time. Few people could see any skill or
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emotion in conceptual art, and the researchers found that it can create a sense of
being laughed at or ‘conned’.
2.6 The role of the Arts Council
Most participants knew little about the Arts Council and their first impressions were
therefore fairly neutral. Some people speculated that the Arts Council might be
associated with elite or traditional artforms, or with unconventional arts projects.
As participants learnt more about the Arts Council and what it does, their attitudes
often became more positive. People appreciated the diversity of the projects we
fund – and the difficulty of choosing between them.
Participants felt that it was important for the Arts Council to be accountable and
transparent, but did not expect us to spend excessive amounts of time and money
on monitoring and reporting back. They also acknowledged that we need to take
risks and that we will make mistakes – but were keen that the Arts Council and the
organisations and individuals we fund learn from and share our lessons.
Participants were interested in how the decision-making process works at the Arts
Council. There was a perception that decisions at the Arts Council might be made
by a small group of experts who are not necessarily in touch with the needs and
priorities of the wider population. Some people imagined an ‘inner circle’ of
decision-makers that represented and reinforced the values of the established arts
world, and were concerned that the work that this circle would choose to fund
might not always touch the lives of ordinary people. As such there was quite a
strong call for greater public involvement in decision-making.
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3 The views of our staff
As a preliminary investigation we commissioned three workshops to explore how
our staff perceive the value of the arts and the role of the Arts Council. We
discovered that our staff are passionate about the arts and understand and
describe their value in a range of different ways.
Some members of staff take a democratic approach to art and its funding. They
believe that art is everywhere and for everyone, and its value lies in what people
get out of it. For these members of staff the Arts Council is ultimately here to serve
the public. Other members of staff feel that art can never be for a mass market
because it takes time and education to appreciate. These people describe value in
terms of quality, risk and innovation and believe that the primary beneficiaries of
the Arts Council’s work are artists and arts organisations.
There is a range of views and most staff would place themselves somewhere on a
spectrum between the two broad philosophies described above. The researchers
concluded that both approaches are important for the Arts Council, and that the
tensions can be a positive and constructive force. However, they can also be a
source of uncertainty, and staff want to understand better how they all contribute
to a clear and compelling vision. The research provides a powerful illustration of
the challenges of managing multiple stakeholders, and demonstrates how
important the arts debate will be in opening up these concerns to a much wider
audience.
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4 Next steps
We are delighted by the richness and depth of the findings so far, and believe that
we have already gained valuable new insights into how the arts are perceived and
experienced today and how people understand the role and priorities of public
funding. We welcome the breadth of the questions and challenges raised by both
our staff and members of the public, and recognise how important it is to complete
the picture with views from a wide range of our other stakeholders before drawing
any conclusions.
In stage two of the arts debate we aim to capture the views of the arts community
and other public agencies with an interest in the arts and their funding. Through a
series of in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of artists, arts administrators,
producers, funders, sponsors, commissioners and local and regional bodies we
will explore how our stakeholders perceive the value of the arts and the role of the
Arts Council. We are interested to see how the professional community responds
to some of the attitudes, ideas and concerns expressed by participants in the early
round of public discussion groups. We will be speaking to individuals and
organisations that currently have a relationship with the Arts Council as well as
those who operate entirely outside the public funding system. We will also be
conducting more research with some ‘hard to reach groups’ that we have not yet
heard from, for instance disabled people.
In stage two we are also offering everyone the opportunity to have their say on the
value of the arts and the role of public funding through an open consultation. Using
the findings of the early discussion groups we have identified a number of broad
consultation themes:
 What do you value about the arts?
 What principles should guide public funding of the arts today?
 What are the responsibilities of a publicly funded arts organisation?
 When should an artist receive public money?
 Should members of the public be involved in arts funding decisions?
Consultation documents are available on the arts debate website at
www.artsdebate.co.uk, explaining each of these themes in more depth and
providing information on how to respond. The consultation period runs from 12
February to 11 May 2007.
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In stage two we also will commission a deeper investigation of the key issues
identified above. Members of the public will be recruited to participate in a series of
deliberative workshops, where the issues will be presented, explained and
debated in full. Representatives of the arts community and Arts Council staff are
likely to be invited to take part as expert witnesses, presenting different
perspectives and arguments. Participants in all the workshops will be invited back
to attend a larger final event where they will work together to solve specific
problems and make recommendations for the future of public funding of the arts.
Over the summer we will analyse all the consultation responses, along with the
results of the stakeholder research and in-depth deliberation. Detailed findings and
conclusions will be published in autumn 2007, along with our response and action
plan.
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To have your say, download the consultation documents by visiting
www.artsdebate.co.uk or request copies by phoning our enquiry team on
0845 300 6200. You can also post your comments directly to our online
discussion forums on the arts debate website.
Arts Council England
14 Great Peter Street
London SW1P 3NQ
www.artscouncil.org.uk
Email: enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk
Phone: 0845 300 6200
Textphone: 020 7973 6564
Charity registration no 1036733
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formats. Please contact us if you need any of these formats
To download this publication, or for the full list of Arts Council England
publications, see www.artscouncil.org.uk
ISBN: 978-0-7287-1332-1
© Arts Council England, February 2007
We are committed to being open and accessible. We welcome all comments on
our work. Please send these to Andrew Whyte, Executive Director,
Communications, at the Arts Council England address above