Thank you to everyone who contributed to OAUK’s response to Arts Council England about the Arts Everywhere Fund. We have since created a blog based on the letter to Arts Council England, which went out via our Public Newsletter as part of sector advocacy. We would like you to use this blog and any information within it to write to your own local MPs, councillors responsible for Culture and Leisure, and of course your Relationship Managers of Arts Council England, Wales, or Creative Scotland. There’s power in numbers when it comes to advocacy! We have since sent this blog to colleagues from DCMS who attended our recent National Conference too.
We’d like to signpost you to Darren Henley’s blog for The Stage that he did last week, in which he shares his perspective on the art of good advocacy, and how he has been making the case for culture.
On another advocacy front, we have written to the Fabian Society, the host of Cultural Policy Unit, who has recently published a paper to advocate for City Tourism Charge, and they have got back to us already to say they’d like to have a conversation. This is potentially a new way forward for raising funds for culture. OAUK are looking to scope out any areas of collaboration in lobbying, and if any of our members have opinion on the Tourism Charge, please get in touch. Liverpool BID are currently voting on implementation of this, so we are particularly interested in colleagues based or working in the City.
You can help us with our advocacy mission by sending us your impact reports for 2024. Email them over to info@outdoorartsuk.org
