Arts Council England (ACE) has this week announced changes to its investment programme as part of an overhaul under the current Labour government. The move is expected to impact almost 1,000 arts and culture organisations that currently receive funding from the arm’s length UK public funding body.
Organisations that receive regular funding from the Arts Council are known as national portfolio organisations (NPO). The current round of funding for NPOs, which began in 2023 and was due to run until 2027, totalled £446m a year, providing funding for 990 organisations, including 82 museums and 159 visual arts organisations. However, ACE has now confirmed the extension of the current funding round until 31 March 2028, meaning these organisations will now be “invited” to apply for another year of funding.
A UK museum professional who preferred to remain anonymous, says: “I thought the idea was to extend existing agreements by a year, not to make everyone apply again just for a year.” Along with existing NPO organisations, Arts Professional reports that the move will frustrate galleries and other arts organisations across England which had hoped to apply for admission to the National Portfolio in 2027.
An ACE spokesperson says: “We understand and we appreciate the effort applicants take in applying for public funding from the Arts Council and are aiming to make this process as simple as possible.”
ACE gives a number of reasons for the extension, including the government’s independent review of the Arts Council, led by Baroness Margaret Hodge, which is due to be published next year. Hodge will scrutinise how ACE distributes public subsidies as part of a wide-ranging review overseen by the UK government, focusing on regional inequality.
In addition, ACE says in a statement: “Although the government has now completed its Spending Review, the details of Arts Council’s funding from 1 April 2026 are not yet known.” In June, the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out departmental budgets through to March 2029. Reeves confirmed that the total expenditure at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which provides funding for ACE, will be reduced by 1.4% over the course of the spending review period.
However, writing on ACE's blog, the organisation's chief executive Darren Henley says: “Our sponsor department, DCMS has received its settlement, with the published figures from HM Treasury showing that the DCMS revenue and capital budget is broadly flat across the Spending Review period.” Henley says that ACE expects to hear about its own settlement in the autumn.
