As the government prepares to review Arts Council England, CVAN England has come together as a national network to articulate what we hope this can unlock for the visual arts. Across our nine regions – from Cornwall to Cumbria – the message is clear: this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape how England values, funds and understands the visual arts.
The review must finally recognise what the evidence overwhelmingly shows: that visual artists and visual arts organisations form a vital national ecosystem that powers creativity, innovation, community cohesion, public participation, and economic growth. But this ecology is fragile and in places, close to breaking point. Rising costs, the loss of affordable workspace, shrinking local authority support, and the deep precarity of freelance labour threaten the sector’s ability to survive, let alone thrive.
What follows is the collective voice of CVAN England, a shared call for change from those working closest to the realities on the ground. At its heart, this review must recognise that Arts Council England is indispensable: it is the primary mechanism through which cultural growth is enabled, public value is realised, and the UK’s global leadership in the arts is sustained. The way ACE invests, allocates resources, and distributes funding shapes the entire visual arts ecosystem from artists and organisations to communities and audiences, and its decisions determine whether the sector thrives or merely survives. Therefore, more public investment is needed.
A Fairer, Stronger, Artist-Centred Cultural System
Across the network, there is a desire for the review to deliver a more coherent, equitable and future-facing approach to cultural investment, one that places artists, fairness and long-term sustainability at its core.
We want to see a system that:
- Recognises artists as central to the cultural ecology and embeds artist support structurally, with fair pay aligned to the cost of living.
- Values freelancers, who sustain the entire visual arts infrastructure, and ensures they have access to training, progression routes and essential protections.
- Invests in the foundations of artistic practice – affordable studios, production facilities, grassroots organisations, co-operative spaces, and the networks that hold the ecology together.
- Strengthens core funding so that organisations can plan and operate sustainably, rather than being destabilised by funding cycles, rising costs and increasing reporting requirements.
- Elevates the value and impact of visual arts nationally, ensuring the sector is visible in ACE’s strategy, public messaging and policy frameworks.
Across every region, there is a clear hope that the review will finally recognise that visual arts cannot be measured using the same metrics as music, theatre or performance and that bespoke, transparent data is essential for understanding impact.
Investment Models Fit for the Realities of England
CVAN regions are asking for an investment approach that acknowledges geography, historical inequalities, and the specific needs of the visual arts workforce.
We call for a review that:
- Corrects long-term underinvestment, especially in rural regions, while recognising the different economic, social, and geographic contexts in which artists operate.
- Reaffirms the importance of London as an interconnected national asset, whose global cultural role benefits the entire country.
- Supports cross-regional collaboration rather than competition, enabling shared approaches, co-production and resilience-building across regions.
- Acknowledges that philanthropic giving and ticketing models cannot replace public funding in regions with lower average incomes or limited arts infrastructure.
- Incorporates inflationary uplifts as a standard budgeting practice, ensuring that real-terms cuts are no longer an annual expectation for visual arts organisations.
- Enforces fair work standards across the NPO portfolio, with accountability mechanisms for pay, conditions, and progression.
There is also strong consensus on the need for more precise, consistent and timely communications from ACE, especially around policy shifts, funding cycles, expectations and processes.
Infrastructure, Space and the Urgent Issue of Affordability
Across England, the message is unequivocal: workspace is the crisis point for the visual arts.
Regions report:
- Rapid loss of affordable studios in London and major cities.
- Unsafe, poor-quality or inaccessible provision in parts of the North and Midlands.
- Hyper-centralised space that excludes artists in suburban or rural areas.
- Barriers caused by poor transport connectivity prevent collaboration and access to opportunity.
The review must put infrastructure and spatial equity at the heart of future investment. This includes:
- Affordable workspace that is safe, distributed and long-term.
- Support for organisational cohabitation, shared-use models and collaborative networks.
- Investment in cultural spaces that form part of wider regeneration, health, education and civic strategies.
These are not “nice to haves”; they are the structural conditions without which the visual arts cannot function.
Talent Pathways, Diversity and Retention
From the South West to the North East, regions are clear: progression pathways are broken, especially for the global majority, Disabled, d/Deaf, Neurodivergent, working-class and marginalised artists.
We are asking for:
- Targeted investment in mid-career routes, curatorial and technical roles, and arts writing — the often-neglected parts of the ecosystem.
- Long-term frameworks that address deep progression gaps.
- Support for talent to remain in the regions where they live, rather than being forced to relocate or leave the sector.
The review must recognise that diversity, equity and inclusion require sustained commitment, not short-term initiatives.
A Data Strategy That Reflects Reality
The sector cannot move forward without accurate, transparent, public-facing data. CVAN regions emphasise the need for:
- Metrics explicitly designed for the visual arts.
- Data that captures workforce conditions, diversity, geographic disparities, pay and participation.
- Recognition of the “unseen labour” that underpins the sector.
- Evidence-led strategy to help leverage investment from combined authorities and non-arts sectors.
Only with robust data can ACE and the government understand what the sector needs and how investment translates into public value.
Conclusion: A Call for Courage and Clarity
The forthcoming review of Arts Council England represents a pivotal moment. As a national network, CVAN England is calling for a system that is:
- Artist-centred
- Equitable across regions
- Data-informed
- Infrastructure-conscious
- Fair in its expectations
- Clear in its strategy
- Grounded in the realities of freelance and grassroots life
Above all, we ask for a review that truly listens to the experiences of those working in the visual arts every day.
If we get this right, we can build a cultural landscape where artists can afford to live, work and thrive; where organisations can plan sustainably; where regional ecosystems flourish; and where the visual arts are recognised as a cornerstone of England’s creative, civic and economic future.
CVAN England will continue to champion these priorities nationally — ensuring the collective intelligence of our regions shapes the future of arts investment.