Confusion at ACE

Arts Council England (ACE) is “looking into” how a statement appeared on its website yesterday announcing a partnership with News International, which owns The Sun and The Times newspapers. ACE subsequently removed the statement, saying “There was no partnership with News International and there has never been approval for a partnership between the Arts Council and News International on either side.”

The original statement suggested that arts organisations had two days to apply to be part of a new partnership which would offer editorial coverage of events to “help arts organisations from across the country to reach out to new audiences”. A spokesperson for ACE told AP that although “the statement has come from inside the arts council”, the partnership does not exist.

Last year, when ACE announced how it was going to deal with a cut in its funds, a plan for a national participation campaign was dropped. According to the spokesperson, the partnership proposal “was part of a wider discussion” about increasing participation in the arts and was just one idea under consideration.

Editor’s note: we are awaiting further information from ACE on where this statement came from and how it ended up online, and will be updating this story.