p. 03
Our vision for arts and culture
Sir
PETER BAZALGETTE October 2013
Why do we have a 10-year strategic framework? Arts Council England is committed to championing and developing the arts, museums and libraries. We are a custodian of public investment, and we are charged with getting the maximum value out of this: the enlightenment and entertainment arts and culture bring us; the enriching of our lives and the inspiring of our education; the vital contribution to our health and well-being and the powering of regional regeneration, tourism and our standing abroad. This document sets out stretching ambitions across all these areas and articulates the strategy to realise them. I welcome this refreshed strategy, three years after the framework’s inception. Every taxpayer, every lottery ticket-holder, every donor, and every reader, theatre-patron and concert-goer is a stakeholder in our world-class arts and culture. This strategic framework is both a manifesto and an action plan for all of us. As pressures increase on public funding, arts and cultural organisations need fresh approaches which enthral audiences and attract new sources of income. With the brilliance of our creative ideas, a clear sense of direction and increasing commercial acumen, I know that our artists will continue to change lives.