At Arts Council England’s London office, off Tottenham Court Road, it’s the start of a busy week of decision-making meetings. I’m beginning to say goodbye and thank you to the committed, expert Arts Council teams across England with whom I have worked for the past decade. During my tenure as chair, we have been through changing governments, financial pressures and the challenges presented by the pandemic.
This summer is an important milestone for the Arts Council too. It has been 80 years since it was created by royal charter, and with it the first ever commitment to invest public money in the arts. In the office, a quiz to mark the occasion tests our knowledge of that history over birthday cake. Perhaps the photo round featuring my predecessors helped, but I’m quietly proud my team wins.
The Arts Council was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War; its founding chairman was John Maynard Keynes. Britain understood then that art and culture are not a luxury in difficult times but a crucial resource for dealing with those challenges. That argument remains as relevant in 2026 as it was in 1946. Now, more than ever, we need to back our nation’s outstanding creativity and culture, and promote greater access to it for everyone.
Leaving the Hive
I take the train from London to Manchester, not to visit No 10 North but the Arts Council’s headquarters in the city’s northern quarter. The office’s official name is “the Hive” – and, true to its name, it is alive with activity and collaboration. A colleague asks me what memory of the Hive’s cultural output will stay with me. Many things come to mind, though only one has left a permanent mark – a green paint stain on the sleeve of a shirt I still wear, acquired during a workshop with children at Z-arts in Hulme. Somewhere there is also a photo of me at Grimm & Co, the pioneering venture in Rotherham that encourages reading and creativity for young people, coming down a slide with a look of pure exhilaration.
Viva Manchester
Later, I visit the impressive Ai Wei Wei exhibition at Aviva Studios, a venue and exhibition space whose inception and realisation came about through public investment, including from the council, the government and the Arts Council. It is truly a phoenix-like story: a new cultural beacon for the city, built on the site of a former one, Granada Studios.
Manchester is a shining example of what creativity and culture can do for cities. It’s down to the leadership of Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor and now Prime Minister, and the city council, whose combined drive and ambition have built on the creative foundations of Cottonopolis to create a catalyst for reinvention and rejuvenation.
Funding the future
On to the Birmingham office for my last in-person goodbye and also my final meeting of the National Council, the Arts Council’s governing body. The main item on the agenda is our next five-year National Portfolio round. In the last round we invested in 275 new arts organisations, museums and libraries, and spread funding more equitably across the country. But the future is uncertain. There is no new money assigned to our budget beyond 2028 – a stark contrast to the Scottish government’s pledge to increase arts funding by 30 per cent. A similar uplift in England would be transformative for our sector, and for the lives of citizens in every one of the country’s parliamentary constituencies.
Transported by creativity
I end the day as I began it: on a train. Over the past decade, trains and buses have taken me across the country to see great dance, music, exhibitions, museums and libraries, with performances on stage and on the streets. Artists, writers, curators, librarians, musicians and performers of all kinds show incredible courage and resilience in spite of funding challenges.
Later, I hear that Burnham has appointed Ruth Mackenzie a minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Jessica Morgan has been named as director of Tate. Both are brilliant choices, as was the appointment of Dawn Airey as my successor at the Arts Council. I depart knowing that the arts are in good hands.
Nicholas Serota is an art historian and curator who was chairman of Arts Council England from 2017 to 2026 and director of the Tate from 1988 to 2017
[Further reading: Who will be Manchester’s next King – or Queen – in the North?]