News on Crediton Heart Proposals

The Arts Council has long recognised that rural communities have their own needs and aspirations that differ from those in urban environments. The Data and Evidence Review 2019 highlights the a disparity in funding with National Portfolio, Grants for the Arts and Project Grants investment is lower in rural areas.

Conversely, participation levels in rural areas are higher. Rural residents are more likely, on average, to have taken part in or undertaken a variety of artistic, cultural or creative activities , from visiting a museum or art gallery to taking part in traditional crafts, such as embroidery or knitting, or more contemporary pursuits like photography.

The Data and Evidence Review 2019 forms part of the process to redevelop the Council's rural position statement which will feed into its new 10-year strategy from 2020. The Rural Position Statement has been revised alongside this review in order to provide an update of the Arts Council’s approach to rural areas.

The Council also acknowledges that rural communities have suffered from a reduction in local authority funding for the arts which cuts proportionally greater than in urban areas.

However the review found that many of its funded programmes, such as Creative People and Places and Cultural Destinations, invested heavily in rural areas. The Strategic Touring Programme also proved successful in helping organisations to stage productions in rural areas.

The good news for rural communities is that the Arts Council will be taking stock of these findings as they set our plans and strategies for the future. The refreshed statement and new Data and Evidence Review set out how they want to work with rural areas in the future to ensure that great art really is for everyone .