The Hodge report into Arts Council England: ‘Not exactly a ringing endorsement’

While the former arts minister’s call for tax breaks and a bonfire of red tape will be welcomed, we seem to be going round in circles. And why hasn’t the single most calamitous cause of funding reduction been addressed?The arts in England are underfunded, and were dealt a blow by Covid from which many organisations have not yet recovered. But that has been only part of the story. The sheer weight of required form-filling, the endless bureaucracy, the impracticable length of time it takes to simply be funded by Arts Council England (ACE) have caused universal frustration among those working in the arts. There is much talk of exhaustion and burnout.Many organisations have felt frustrated, too, by the strictures of ACE’s flagship strategy, Let’s Create, which, though admirable in principle, with its focus on participation in the arts, is perhaps tilted too far from recognising the expertise and individuality of artists and arts institutions. Especially in classical music and opera – where...