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The results of the consultation will inform a ten-year strategic framework and the Arts Council's future investment decisions.

The consultation outlines five long-term goals that will drive the Arts Council's development work, inform its funding priorities and strengthen relationships with artists, organisations and audiences. The goals are:

- Talent and artistic excellence are thriving and celebrated.

- The arts leadership and workforce are diverse and highly skilled.

- More people value and enjoy the arts.
Every child and young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts.

- The arts sector is sustainable, resilient and innovative.

Apart from its Grants for the Arts funding programme (GRANTfinder reference UG1420), which the Arts Council envisages retaining in its current form for the time being, it is also considering the following changes to its programme of funding:

- Revising the regular funding programme so that it ensures the future health of organisations essential to England's arts ecology.

- Creating a fixed-term funding programme - this is envisaged to fund organisations and perhaps individuals under variable-length funding agreements with more specific objectives related to the Arts Council's goals. It might also be used to enable artists to become established and new ideas to be tested.
 

- Creating a new proactive funding programme to support the Arts Council's development role. This would allow the commissioning of activities that cannot be supported through regular or fixed-term funding. It could enable Arts Council England to work with a wider range of partners and act as a catalyst for new developments.

- Developing a new capital programme to contribute to the maintenance and enhancement of existing arts buildings, plus a targeted and limited fund for new buildings considered essential to the delivery of our goals.

The deadline for responses to the consultation is 14 April 2010.

www.artscouncil.org.uk/consultation/