VAGA Responses to Recent Consultations

Culture and Creativity: The Next Ten Years. VAGA welcomed the document and in particular its: clarity and breadth of vision; emphasis on quality; recognition of the importance of the individual artist/creator; recognition of the need to liberate the creative potential of individuals; recognition of the contribution cultural organisations have made to fulfilling government objectives through the quality of their education and access work.

Specific points included:
1. Support for the recent amendment of the VAT regulations to enable the adoption of free admission by the national collections as a principle that now needs to be extended through adequate revenue funding to enable those many organisations, which fall outside the exemption, to adopt free admission.
2. Need for additional core funding and capacity building if organisations are to meet government social inclusion objectives - effective social inclusion policies require long-term financial, as well as moral commitment.
3. The need for the arts to be more fully embedded within education policy - the present hierarchy of subjects within the national curriculum should be reviewed to create greater balance of subjects, as recommended by the NACCCE report. It is probable that, until the curriculum is revised, initiatives such as Pupil Learning Credits will be directed by schools towards the key areas of numeracy, literacy and ICT, and not towards investment in arts teaching/learning.
4. Although welcoming the intent of specialist Arts Colleges in raising standards, this should be seen in the light of the recent findings of the National Foundation for Educational Research�s (NFER) study of the effects and effectiveness of the arts in secondary schools, which concluded that the development of specialist schools increased the inequality of provision in the arts. The NFER recommended that "policies are required that seek improvements across the board."
5. Career structures, salaries and professional development opportunities are ill developed across the visual arts and museum sector, with junior staff often entering the profession on salaries below the national average. At the other end of the scale senior managers and artistic directors leave the profession through poor career prospects and �burn out�. Likewise artists have fragmented careers with poor pay and benefits. The health of the sector is dependent on the human resources and professional expertise and it is essential that cultural organisations be enabled, through adequate investment and coherent policies, to meet these needs.
6. Local Authority managed museums and galleries are crucial to visual arts provision and the Government is urged to take forward the findings of the 2001 Review of Regional Museums and address the need for long term stable revenue support. for museums and collection based galleries.

For a copy of the full response please contact the VAGA office, click here

Charity Commission Museums and Arts Galleries Review. VAGA warmly welcomed the consultation by the Charities Commission and endorsed the general thrust of the paper towards greater inclusivity with reference to art works and collections, the recognition of the need for greater appreciation of subjective criteria, and the wider definition of education. It is greatly encouraged by the advances being made in the view of education as a process.

For a copy of the full response please contact the VAGA office, click here

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