After years of venues feeling pressured to "tick all the ACE boxes" for community engagement over artistic ambition, a major review has recommended scrapping the controversial 'Let's Create' strategy, according to BBC News. A significant re-evaluation of how cultural funding in England prioritizes artistic innovation versus community focus is proposed, potentially reshaping the sector's priorities in 2026. The shift acknowledges a widespread sentiment that previous directives, despite their stated aims, inadvertently constrained creative freedom.
The 'Let's Create' strategy, while designed to broaden access and community engagement, inadvertently stifled artistic ambition and created a bureaucratic burden for many arts organizations. The tension arose from a focus that often mandated quantifiable outreach over unquantifiable artistic merit, leading to a perceived "straitjacket" effect on creative endeavors.
Based on the proposed overhaul and historical budget cuts, the arts sector faces a complex future where a renewed focus on excellence must navigate persistent financial constraints and the challenge of balancing national significance with local relevance. This intricate balance will determine the efficacy of the new funding model.
The Case for Overhaul: Sidelining Excellence
A major review of Arts Council England (ACE) recommended overhauling cultural funding to empower regions and scrap a policy criticized for sidelining artistic excellence, BBC News reported. Dame Margaret Hodge, who led the review, proposed ACE's continued existence but with new local and regional decision-making boards for funding local arts organizations. The shift confirms a broad consensus: the centralized, excellence-sidelining approach of 'Let's Create' was unsustainable. The move towards regional empowerment, while promising greater local relevance, also risks fragmenting national artistic vision and potentially increasing administrative complexity.
The Lingering Shadow of Austerity
Arts Council England's budget was reduced by approximately 30% under Conservative governments, The Guardian stated. The significant financial contraction means that even with structural changes, reduced funding will continue to constrain artistic ambition and community outreach. Regions may gain control, but they will distribute a significantly smaller pool of funds. Any rebalancing becomes a zero-sum game, potentially leading to increased competition and difficult choices at the local level rather than genuine empowerment. Companies pressured to "tick all the ACE boxes" under 'Let's Create' will likely navigate a new, equally complex landscape, where a split between national and local decision-making could inadvertently relegate local arts to a second-tier status, despite the stated aim of regional empowerment.
A Tiered Future: Balancing National and Local
The review suggested a two-tiered funding system: a national panel for nationally and internationally significant arts organizations, and local boards for other funding, BBC News reported. The aim is to create a more nuanced ecosystem, allowing both local community arts and world-class institutions to thrive under distinct oversight, moving from a one-size-fits-all model. However, the system risks creating an artistic hierarchy. Regional boards, managing a smaller slice of an already reduced budget, will face immense pressure to justify their existence through measurable outputs, potentially echoing the very 'tick box' mentality the overhaul aims to eliminate.
Navigating a Fragmented Landscape
The proposed overhaul, while aiming to correct 'Let's Create's' focus on access over excellence, risks creating a new bureaucratic layer of regional boards. These boards will struggle to distribute an already diminished 30% smaller budget, The Guardian reported, potentially leading to further fragmentation rather than genuine artistic flourishing. The shift towards regional decision-making, while positive in intent, means newfound power will primarily involve making harder choices over fewer resources, potentially leading to increased local competition rather than genuine artistic growth.
By Q3 2026, Arts Council England must demonstrate concrete progress in implementing these reforms. The challenge will be ensuring new regional boards possess both autonomy and resources to foster genuine artistic innovation, without succumbing to renewed bureaucratic pressures.
