This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is entered into on 29 April 2014
between Arts Council England and the National Trust.
1.
The Parties
1.1
Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in
England, distributing public money from Government and the National Lottery.
Its 10-year strategic framework, Great art and culture for everyone, states: ‘we
want arts and culture to thrive and to be excellent, and we want to make sure
we and others create the right conditions for that; we want as many people as
possible to be stimulated by arts and culture wherever they are’. Arts Council
England sees a long-term strategic relationship with the National Trust as
offering new opportunities to achieve these aims.
1.2
The National Trust was founded in 1895 to care for places of historic
interest or natural beauty. Today the mission is ‘special places for ever, for
everyone’. These places include buildings, collections, countryside and coast.
The National Trust wishes to re-energise the connection between its
properties and the public through creative programmes developed with artists
and arts organisations being inspired by these places. It believes that this will
be greatly facilitated by a partnership with Arts Council England.
2.
Context
2.1
The National Trust has worked in this area in the past: between 1986
and 2001, it supported the commissioning and presentation of contemporary
art through its Foundation for Art. Following this, a consultancy led to the first
MoU between Arts Council England and the National Trust for 2009–12. This
created the Trust New Art programme, which achieved over 60 projects at 44
places with a combined audience of over two million people. This strategic
approach established successful models for commissioning and exhibiting
contemporary visual arts and crafts at National Trust places.
3.
The vision
3. 1 We will continue to make contemporary art and craft an integral part of
the National Trust’s regular offer at selected places, building new audiences
for great art and offering new opportunities to artists at key stages of their
careers where working in new contexts can provide a different challenge.
3. 2 We believe high-quality and innovative art can change lives and affect
communities for the better – by enabling people to see the world and
experience heritage in new ways. We also recognise that the art of the past
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and the present are interconnected and dialogue between them is essential.
That dialogue – in the form of the juxtaposition of contemporary art and
historic setting – stimulates artists and audiences and facilitates new
perceptions and innovations.
4.
Principles of partnership for 2014–18
4. 1 The partnership will build on learning from the previously successful
collaboration between the two organisations in a number of ways:
strategically, at national and regional levels; and operationally, through
individual properties and sites.
4. 2 The principal outcome of the partnership will be an increased level of
high-quality and innovative contemporary art and crafts and creative
programming activity across National Trust properties and sites, delivered
primarily by the National Trust, but supported by the specialist knowledge
networks and expertise of Arts Council England. This may include
consideration of funding bids from the National Trust and the planning of
regional projects, subject always to the proviso that Arts Council England
cannot fetter its grant making discretion and therefore cannot guarantee that
any such bid will be successful.
4. 3 The 10 principles outlined below will be embedded into all future
partnership activity delivered by the National Trust:
5. The 10 principles
5.1
Artistic quality:

To ensure that high-quality and innovative creative programming
is built on and sustained through the Trust New Art programme.

To deliver partnerships with arts specialists such as National
portfolio organisations and museums.

To continue to work with visual artists and makers at its heart
but also to experiment with new disciplines including ephemeral
architecture, writers and writing, and performance-based work;
all of this activity to be context specific, set either indoors or
outdoors.
5.2
Artistic talent: To embed talent development into the Trust New Art
programme, delivering career changing opportunities for artists to create new
work in historical and natural settings, measuring the impact of these
opportunities on artists’ career progression.
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5.3
Conservation: To work sensitively with curator/producers, artists and
art organisations to ensure consistency of programme and projects are in line
with National Trust conservation guidelines. To ensure that there is a shared
understanding of roles and responsibilities of working in heritage settings.
Audience engagement
5.4
National marketing approach: To ensure a shared branding and
communications strategy for Trust New Art that addresses both internal and
external needs and objectives. The strategy will ensure consistency and that
both parties can speak clearly, both internally and externally, about the value
of the initiative and the Trust New Art programme and how they relate to their
individual corporate strategies. It will also ensure the coordination of joint and
separate messages communicated by the National Trust and Arts Council
England. To explore opportunities of using social media and other online
platforms.
5.5
Shared data gathering: To develop consistent audience data that is
both qualitative and quantitative to build a better understanding of audiences
attending the Trust New Art programme and to enable a national benchmark
to be set. To work with other national agencies such as the Forestry
Commission and Canals & River Trust to develop comparable audience
dataset and set a national benchmark to help measure visitor understanding
and appreciation of contemporary work. Within this data, to evaluate audience
interpretation to increase impact.
Organisational development/learning
5.6
National coordination: To operate a layered approach to
programming whereby locally created (property/regional) offers are enhanced
by centrally co-ordinated national schemes of work (such as national
residency programmes and Arts Council Collection loans).
5.7
Participation in peer network: To build on previous learning about
creative commissioning at the National Trust and in the museum/heritage
sector. The regional artistic activities will support and be supported by the
national programme to continue to build capacity and confidence of National
Trust staff and volunteers. This could include talks, peer-to-peer mentoring
and online guidance material around curatorship and commissioning
contemporary art within the context of the National Trust’s core values and
corporate themes.
5.8
Match funding: To use the Trust New Art programme to leverage
funds from other sources.
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5.9
Legacy: To ensure a sustainable legacy of this programme,
participating properties will include contemporary programming in their
business plans with allocated budgets in order to embed and grow sustainable
creative programming that responds to the context of the properties. To
ensure contemporary programming is endorsed by the regional senior
management and where appropriate support the development of
contemporary programing in regional strategies.
5.10 Centralised monitoring and evaluation: All participating properties
will report to the project board regularly and commit to undertaking periodic
evaluation on the above nine principles to enable national and ongoing
oversight by lead officers.
6.
Programme structure, governance and advisory support
6.1
Trust New Art will be the mechanism to deliver the vision of a national
contemporary creative programming partnership between Arts Council
England and the National Trust. This will be done through a cohort of 20–25
National Trust places across England that will commit to develop creative
programming in their business plans. They will sit alongside other properties
in Wales and Northern Ireland, working to the same objectives that will form
the total Trust New Art cohort of approximately 30 properties. This cohort of
properties will jointly fundraise for the creative programme. This may include
two Arts Council England national bids during 2014–18, which will follow the
10 characteristics outlined above.
6.2
It is recognised by both parties that opportunities for Trust New Art may
emerge during the partnership period beyond the scope of any national bids
to Arts Council England. Any further bids to Arts Council England would need
to follow the 10 principles outlined above, and provide clear alignment with the
national bids which will be independently assessed by Arts Council England,
and the National Trust accepts that there is no guarantee of funding.
6.3
The National Trust’s project management framework will be the
governance model for Trust New Art. This will be implemented upon the
programme as it progresses. Trust New Art will be led by a project manager
responsible to a project board. The board will meet four times per year, with a
standing invitation to the supporting Arts Councils (or equivalent) of England,
Wales and Northern Ireland to attend as observers. Two meetings will be
linked to the external advisory group meetings.
6.4
The project manager will investigate developing an action driven
national advisory group to support properties, share best practice and
advocate working with the arts to other National Trust advisory panels and
senior governance volunteers (eg Trustees).
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6.5
The project manager will have a nominated national contact at Arts
Council England, as well as key area contacts in the south west, Midlands,
north, London, and the south east.
7.
Good partners agreement
7.1
Arts Council England and the National Trust will each inform the other
partner prior to any sensitive messages emerging that might impact on either
organisation.
7.2
Both parties will share information with each other about any
agreements with third parties as appropriate.
7.3
Both parties will observe confidentiality as required in relation to shared
information that is not in the public domain.
7.4
Arts Council England is a ‘public authority’ for the purposes of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the FOI Act’). Subject to certain
exceptions, Arts Council England is required to supply information to
members of the public on request. This potentially includes any information
that relates to activity conducted under the terms of this MoU. The National
Trust agrees to notify Arts Council England as soon as possible if it considers
any information it give Arts Council England to be confidential or covered by
one or more of the other FOI Act exceptions. However Arts Council England
will make the decision on disclosure in accordance with the FOI Act and the
National Trust accepts that Arts Council England will not be liable for any loss
or damage the National Trust may suffer from such a disclosure of information
under the FOI Act. This clause will not affect the rights of the National Trust
under the Data Protection Act 1998.
8.
Term of the MoU
This MoU shall take effect from the date of signature by both parties and
continue, in the first instance, for four years. It will be reviewed after the first
six months and annually thereafter by both parties’ lead officers. It is not
intended to – and shall not – create any legal obligation between the parties.
9.
Action plan
Following the execution of this MoU, Arts Council England and the National
Trust will draw up an action plan in line with the shared vision, aims and
objectives outlined above and both parties’ strategic planning processes. This
plan will form an appendix to the MoU and will be annexed as a schedule to
this MoU when mutually agreed. It will include an evaluation framework and
methodology for the project manager’s annual reporting, which will feature
input from all funded projects and from Arts Council England’s area teams.
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Signed by:
Name
Alan Davey ____________________
Signature
______________________
for and on behalf of
Arts Council England
14 Great Peter Street
London, SW1P 3NQ
and
Name
Helen Ghosh____________________
Signature
_____________
for and on behalf of
The National Trust
Heelis
Kemble Drive
Swindon, SN2 2NA
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