NPO timeline revised over funding delay

Arts Council England (ACE) has delayed applications for the next National Portfolio over uncertainty about its own funding.

In an email last week, ACE said it has not yet received its 2022/23 settlement from DCMS, despite the department getting a 5.8% funding uplift in October's Budget.

As such, the Arts Council has been unable to publish a crucial addendum to application guidance that outlines how the next portfolio must contribute to the Levelling Up agenda.

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"We’re changing the timeline to ensure that you have sufficient time to absorb this information when it’s published and prepare your application," the email reads.

Initially slated for today (February 14), applications will instead open Monday February 28. They now close on May 18, meaning organisations and consortia still have nearly 12 weeks to bid for funding through to 2026.

Aspiring National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) also yet to receive individualised "planning figures" – the maximum amount organisations can apply for in most cases – and the deadline to arrange a pre-application meeting with ACE staff has been pushed out to April 8.

Reporting obligations

Survey questions and methodology around collecting workforce and audience data, including new obligations to report on audience diversity, will be available in Autumn.

ACE recently published its 'relationship framework'. The document was meant to explain the "specific requirements on monitoring and data reporting" new NPOs must adhere to, but provides little more detail.

It does say, however, that most NPOs (some are exempt) will need to collect postcode and demographic data on their audiences via a "representative sample", reporting back to the Arts Council quarterly.

The framework notes: "By contributing to the collective NPO audience dataset you are enabling the Arts Council to have access to vital information to make the continued case for public investment."

'Broadly the same'

ACE says it expects its monitoring of NPOs to remain "broadly the same".

A new matrix will be used to evaluate NPOs' risk profile, with ACE potentially reducing, removing or forcing repayment of funding for breaches of their funding agreements.

"These measures should not be seen as a step-by-step process. We will approach each instance individually and determine the appropriate intervention or combination of interventions," the framework says.

Among the more obvious reasons ACE might step in (poor management, financial instability, and shoddy governance) are "issues with artistic and creative output that might be deemed controversial, and partnerships with organisations that might be perceived as being in conflict with the purposes of public funding of culture".

"The Arts Council strongly supports freedom of artistic expression, and we want the organisations we fund to feel able to produce ambitious and challenging work," a spokesperson said.

Risk assessments "consider the confidence we have in an organisation’s executive and non-executive leadership to accurately assess the risks involved in producing this kind of work", manage controversy and support the artists involved, they added.