Kate Offord, Literature Officer, on what the Arts Council can do for you

Writers often complain that, compared to other ‘creative arts’, writing is often left out in the cold when it comes to funding. Andy Thatcher asked Kate Offord, Literature Officer at Arts Council England, South West (ACE, SW), about the organisation’s attitude to writing and what it can offer emerging writers.

Q: What is your role and how long have you been in it?
A: I’m the Literature Officer, a role I’ve been doing since it was created as part of the restructure of the Arts Council of England and the Regional Arts Boards in April 2003. Before that I worked in another role at South West Arts for 3 years.

Q: What is ACE, SW and what are its current and projected activities?
A: Arts Council England, South West is the regional development agency for the arts. Together with the other eight regions and the national office, we form Arts Council England. Our aim nationally is for everyone in the country to have the opportunity to develop a rich and varied artistic life, engaging them as both audience and participant. For 2006-8, we have six priorities to support delivery of this aim. These are taking part in the arts, children and young people, the creative economy, vibrant communities, internationalism and celebrating diversity.

Q: What support has ACSW given directly to writers in their craft?
A: We support many writers directly through the Grants for the Arts scheme. This can be for a wide variety of reasons, including professional development, research and development time and for “time to write”.

Q: What is ACSW’s definition of ‘literature’. Does it include non-fiction writers, biographers, journalists etc?
A: Arts Council England takes a broad definition of literature that includes live literature and reader development. There is a full definition on our website. When we are assessing the artistic quality of literature, particularly in regard to funding, we look at the strength of the artistic idea involved, how it will contribute to the broader development of the artist and art form, and the level of innovation, originality and imagination involved. While areas such as literary fiction and poetry are more likely to be able to make a case against these criteria, there is no reason why creative non-fiction shouldn’t.

Areas that aren’t included under our definition of Literature are writing for theatrical performance (as that comes under our Performing Arts remit) and writing for film and television, which is covered by The Film Council and its regional bodies.

Q: What support has ACSW given indirectly to writers through support organisations such as Apples & Snakes?
A: Apples & Snakes has support as a national organisation from Arts Council England and in the region we work closely with Heidi Stephenson, the SW coordinator. A lot of other national literature organisations such as the Arvon Foundation receive some funding from Arts Council England to support writers. We also support ArtsMatrix, the continuing professional development agency for creative practitioners in the south west and have strong links with Creative Skills in Cornwall.

Q: What support has ACSW given indirectly to writers through supporting community-based writing initiatives, such as through Creative Partnerships?
A: Arts Council England initiatives such as Creative Partnerships, which develops long-term partnerships between schools and cultural and creative organisations, have been involved in the region with a lot of literature work including partnering the Spread the Word South West conference linked with Tip O Your Tongue at the Acorn in Penzance last year.

There is also support for work such as writing within education through specific funded organisations in the region such as KEAP (the Kernow Education Arts Partnership), who have led some fantastic projects featuring writers in schools. There are other funded projects such as the Creative Writing Programme and associated writers in residence at the University of Exeter, who are working with the wider community across the region. We’ve also supported a large number of smaller community-based writing initiatives across the region through the Grants for the Arts scheme.

Q: What support has ACSW given through supporting organisations such as publishers, festivals and competitions?
A: We fund several, mainly poetry, independent publishers in the south west, we also give regular funding to the two main literature festivals at Bath and Cheltenham and fund many others through the Grants for the Arts scheme. The Bridport Prize, one of the longest established competitions in the country, is run by another regularly funded organisation, Bridport Arts Centre.

Arts Council England also supports work around readers on the basis that reading is itself a creative act and our work in this area aims to make the experience of reading as varied, challenging and pleasurable as possible and in the south west we work with a network consortium of regional library authorities called Read South West to enable this. We have also supported regional reader development projects such as the Great Reading Adventure.

Q: The Arts Council is often perceived as being first and foremost a purse to be dipped into by needy arts organisations. Aside from processing applications and handing out the money (or not) what else the the Arts Council do?
A: We do directly fund a large number of key arts organisations in the region as well as a very large number of individuals. In 2005, for example, we gave £743,495 to 154 individuals and £7,333,498 to 288 organisations.

But we also work strategically to develop arts and culture in partnership with a number of other organisations including local authorities, the South West of England Regional Development Agency, Government Office South West, Culture South West and the media. This ensures shared vision and pooling of funds that are able to make a bigger impact.

Arts Council England also acts as an advocate for the arts within the wider government framework, ensuring that the arts continues to be a good cause with the Lottery for example and that art and cultural remain high on the political agenda and are embedded in national policies.

Q: What determines the criteria by which grant applications are awarded and/or turned down?
A: All applications to the Grants for the Arts are assessed against the same criteria. These are the artistic quality, the management of the activity, the financial viability of the activity, how the artist and the public will benefit from the activity and how the activity meets the aims of Arts Council England. These criteria and the aims are all included in the application pack for the Grants for the Arts and also on our website.

Q: The East has New Writing Partnership, the North East has New Writing North, The North West has Common Word and London has more support networks than it knows what to do with. Why the gap in the South West and what, if anything, is being done to fill it?
A: There is lack of infrastructure for literature in the SW, which we are currently addressing through our literature development strategy. This work is now a regional priority for ACE,SW and we are looking at ways to work with different partners at how we can achieve it. Some things that have come out of this so far are the regional literature website http://www.literaturesouthwest.co.uk and the annual Literature South West one-day conference which last year took place at the Acorn in Penzance as part of Tip O Your Tongue with a focus on performance poetry and this year takes place at Ways With Words and will focus on fiction writers.

There is also the new South West Live Literature Venues Consortium, which is looking at developing and promoting Live Literature in the region and there is much more to come over the next few years.

Q: What are your three favourite books?
A: Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber (and if I can cheat I’d like to include anything else written by her too), Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and more, recently, Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters.

Kate Offord
Literature Officer
Arts Council England South West
Direct line: 01392 229273
Email: kate.offord@artscouncil.org.uk