Arts Council England at 80: Birthday Book Skips the Hard Parts

England's public arts funder has marked its 80th birthday with a book that leaves out some of its most difficult history.

Made in England: Art and Culture in Changing Times is presented as a celebration of eighty years of public investment in creativity. The book, published by Comma Press for Arts Council England, the national funding body based in London, gathers essays, arguments and creative contributions from artists, leaders and critics. It explores what art and culture do in England now and how creativity might shape the next 80 years, according to the publisher's description Arts Council England.

The organisation started in 1946 as the Arts Council of Great Britain. Its anniversary volume contains 16 essays by various contributors. It opens with an introduction by Nicholas Serota, who is departing as chairman after nine years The Art Newspaper.

One chapter looks back at an earlier reckoning. Contributor Amanda Parker examines The Arts That Britain Ignores, the 1976 report by Naseem Khan on minority arts. That report pressed the funder to pay attention to work by Black and Asian artists and communities in Britain.

The review, published on 20 October 2026, says much later history is not addressed. It states the book contains nothing about the crises that led to the disappearance of the Regional Arts Boards, the regional bodies that once distributed funding across England.

It also states there is no discussion of the National Lottery or the loss of additionality. That is the principle, in plain terms, that lottery money should add to core government funding, known as grant-in-aid, rather than replace it.

The same review lists other gaps. It says the book contains nothing addressing the crisis since 2010, when Arts Council England lost a third of its funding. It says there is nothing about the loss of local authority funding, which supports theatres, galleries and museums alongside national money.

It adds that there is nothing about the decision to abandon the ten-year strategy Let's Create. That plan was dropped after a 2025 report by Margaret Hodge.

That is a lot of context to miss. Arts Council England distributes roughly £1bn a year. Decisions about where that money goes decide which venues stay open and who gets to perform, exhibit and attend.

What makes this stand out for general readers is the contrast. A birthday collection invites celebration. A funding history also involves cuts, closures and changed rules.