ACE taxpayer support for literature – four more years

ACE – Arts Council England – has announced taxpayer support for the arts in England of £1.6 billion for the four-year period from 2018 to 2020.   Out of a total UK public expenditure of £800 billion a year, this is less than a rounding error.   But down at the sharp end – enabling arts businesses to support individual artists in expressing a view of the world – the money is life-blood.

In the UK, Maynard Keynes invented the Arts Council after the Second World War.   Art has always relied on patronage – royal, ducal, charitable, corporate.    In many European countries, taxpayers have taken their place alongside the great and the good in providing patronage for the arts.   In the UK, taxpayers have devolved decisions about disbursing their patronage to the arts councils of the constituent nations.    Maybe few people know that or feel it in any way.    For the recipients, it is a huge privilege.

I chair the board of Inpress, which supports independent literary publishers across the UK with sales, distribution and membership services.   To our delight, ACE has recognised the value of what we do by continuing to fund an element of the core costs of running the business for the next five years.  In return, we grow the sales of small, independent publishers and provide them with access to the major channels of retail and wholesale distribution which, on their own, they would find it very hard to access.

Last year Inpress rescued the Poetry Book Society from going out of business after 65 years.   The PBS is a child of ACE, having been set up with a £2,000 grant in 1953.   Now, under Inpress ownership, it is a stand-alone business and does not rely on the taxpayer for the funding of its daily activity.   Exceptionally, however, ACE has granted an annual sum of money to fund the recruitment of new members through online marketing.   Each member of the PBS receives a copy of a selected new collection of poetry every quarter.   This sales bonus to the selected poet and publisher significantly increases the number of copies of that title in circulation.    This helps the flow of royalties to the poet and the publisher stay in business.   The PBS is a vital element in the British poetry ecosystem.

A vibrant independent publishing industry is an essential element of a civilised society.   In return for the privilege of receiving taxpayers’ money, we engage to demonstrate the value of every penny spent, to sustain independent literary publishers in their work, and to broaden the reach of the insightful, passionate and humane voices of our contemporary poets.