ACE to reframe the work of the Cultural Leadership Programme
The Cultural Leadership Programme (CLP) is the latest body to be axed in the wake of Government funding cuts to Arts Council England (ACE). Established in 2006 with a three-year £12m Government-funded package to promote excellence in leadership, and subsequently funded directly by ACE, CLP’s remit has been to raise leadership capability across the sector. A statement by CLP attributes its demise to budget cuts, but also to arts organisations “extending their roles and responsibilities within the wider cultural landscape”. The programme will close at the end of this month. A new Leadership and Organisational Development Team will start work at ACE in April to implement two of ACE’s stated goals in its current strategic plan: for the arts to be “sustainable, resilient and innovative”; and for “the arts leadership and workforce to be diverse and highly skilled”. A few elements of the CLP will survive into the new structure including involvement in the Clore Fellowships and Short Courses, and Sync, the disabled leaders programme. The Meeting the Challenge Development Programme and the diversity initiative ‘Leadership Advance’, will also survive, and the CLP website will be maintained “as a source of leadership development insights”.