Forgan and Davey defend ACE

Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of Arts Council England (ACE) and Alan Davey, Chief Executive of ACE, were forced to defend their organisation at the latest evidentiary session of the Select Committee on the funding of Arts and Heritage. They were accused of bringing ACE’s budget cuts on themselves through wastage and mismanagement, but both Forgan and Davey offered a robust defence: Davey claimed that “ACE has probably done best out of the quangos that the DCMS funds, we’ve done better than Sport England and National Heritage”. He rejected the assertion that ACE had got a “raw deal” from the government. Forgan agreed, saying “our settlement should not be seen as a punishment for failing in our duty”.

She was clear that “30% [cut] is bound to have a significant effect… but it is not our job to spread gloom and despondency. We are here to make sure that the arts are protected and supported.” She was more concerned that the DCMS clarify how it defines “administrative costs”. ACE has been charged by the DCMS with cutting its admin costs by 50%, but Forgan pointed out that this is a cut of 50% in the number of people who make things happen, “the mentoring, talent-spotting, policing”. She was clear that “there are consequences” to cutting ACE internally to this degree. Davey concurred, saying that ACE’s decisions “are not a formula, judgement has to be involved”, and that requires people.

The two were also given a hard time over the decision to cease funding Creativity Culture and Education (CCE). The panel asked whether the decision to cut funding was not “at odds with ACE’s goal to improve arts education for young people”. Again, Forgan was blunt: “We had no choice at all. Creative Partnerships [which managed CCE] has many fine outcomes and we liked it overall. I am personally rather sorry about it, but we had to cut it.”