News
Arts Council to take on MLA tasks
9 Dec 2010
Arts Council England (ACE) has confirmed it will take on responsibilities previously assumed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), which is set to close down by March 2012.
ACE has been given a budget of around £46m a year by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to deliver these new responsibilities, with £43.4m of this allocated to the Renaissance in the Regions programme.
The Arts Council will now manage the libraries improvement and development agenda, as well as the Renaissance in the Regions programme for regional museums, including completing the redesign of its content and operation.
ACE will also set the regional museums and development agenda, which includes managing projects relating to the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. The organisation will also take on cultural property functions, including export licensing and security advice.
It will not, however, take on the MLA's strategic archive functions, and made it clear that responsibility for running libraries or regional museums has largely been devolved to local authorities.
ACE chair Dame Liz Forgan said: "In taking on these important responsibilities, we recognise the excellent work already done by the MLA, and we are pleased by the confidence Ministers have demonstrated in us by giving us this crucial work to take forward."
She added: "This is a unique opportunity to...create a more coherent cultural offer."
The next two years will be transitional with the transfer of responsbilities from MLA to ACE to be completed in 2011, and the MLA to close down by March 2012.
Sir Andrew Motion, chair of the MLA, said: "The MLA will work very closely with the Arts Council to help ensure a smooth transition of these important functions."
Discussions are currently ongoing between ACE, MLA and DCMS in order to decide the basis on which grants can be made for 2011/12 to organisations funded by the MLA.
Read more at The Bookseller.
