ACE NPO – and people and places
Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation rounds are always era defining which ever side of the yes/no/more/less decision arts organisations find themselves on.
In the days since this round’s announcements I have had conversations with people that can now fully realise their ambitions, either with or without ACE support, those that are catapulted to the Plan B they hoped they’d never have to activate, those that find themselves head-down in making decisions on increasing or decreasing staffing and programme load, and those that are packing their bags and moving somewhere new. Wherever you are as a result of the NPO decisions, as an arts professional or organisation, this time will pose challenges.
If you are moving somewhere new, how do you start to make yourself at home in this new cultural ecology you find yourself in? How do you make friends with your neighbours? Where do you go to play? To shop? As a placemaker, I know the value of cultural institutions of any size in place, and advocate for the radical potential of placemaking to start and end in the community. Put this together with learning from the quiet revolution in intra-regional working that has been Cultural Compacts and we have here a time and place that could shift cultural and economic topographies. It has to be got right though. And got right from the start – a misstep in that topography can create ripples never forgotten or forgiven.
New calls on new leaders will be made in the coming years. With ACE holding hands with Levelling Up, leadership will be sought in new areas, from new constituents of people – or at least, should be. Nurturing talent and leadership becomes even more of a need in the sector now as we speak to new audiences in new ways and address the ever pressing needs of social, spatial and economic & ecological justice. New ways for the sector, organisations and individuals themselves nurture leadership, the systems and conversations needed for this, have to be given due focus coming through this NPO.
In the situations where organisations find themselves having to meet greater need with less (let’s be honest here about human capacity and the absurdity of the growth mindset in fiscally austere and climate breakdown times and try not to say ‘more with less’ ever again), staff are a top concern of mine, seeing as I am in my Critical Friend role the direct impact the NPO process has had on wellbeing.
Workplace wellbeing is anchored in having stable and fulfilling roles, being able to put your talents to use in work that you love and giving back to others through that role. When working, people feel happy when they feel respected, have the right tools to work with, and have clearly defined roles and goals. Such a working culture is possible no matter what your budget is – yet those who have suffered cuts in this NPO round will be looking at an immediate timeline of absolute and compromising decisions. Burnout comes from working in a position with huge responsibility and little agency; role goalposts can shift; the pressure of working in service to community but without the resources to do that can be vocationally debilitating. How will people fare through this time? How can organisations foster a culture that is people-first and wellbeing-centred when having to hold nerve in the face of such drastic re-visioning?
I have no doubt redundancies will be coming. Personal happiness takes the impact of this. When people are made unemployed, it takes years for them to recover financially and with their wellbeing and, mostly, they are not able to access work, wellbeing and prosocial health (being able to leave the house to meet friends and family, that is) at the same level as before. Inability to meet one’s basic needs is accompanied by stress, depression and anxiety. Money struggles reduce self-worth, a sense of personal agency, independence and self-determination, increases interpersonal conflict, and weakens social interaction and support networks. Conversely, happy people apply for more jobs, get more interviews, and secure more high paying roles. You can see where the break in the chain can happen.
There is for certain huge opportunity for positive, constructive and ground-breaking change here – I hope that the people of our sector don’t break in the process.