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The Narrative of Excellence, History and Dance - A Very English Chronology

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“The defined purpose of the Arts Council of Great Britain is to maintain the highest possible standard in the arts. When Lord Keynes met the press, on the day that the future was announced, he told them that no big changes would take place and that the Council's established purpose held good: to encourage the best British national arts, everywhere, and to do it as far as possible by supporting others rather than by setting up state-run enterprises. The artist walks where the breath of the spirit blows him. He cannot be told his direction; he does not know it himself. But he leads the rest of us into fresh pastures and teaches us to love and to enjoy what we often begin by rejecting, enlarging our sensibility and purifying our instincts. The task of an official body is not to teach or to censor, but to give courage, confidence and opportunity." [1]

Unattributed, The Arts Council of Great Britain - 1946

“The famous "arm's length" principle is as robust and as essential as ever, and it has been re-affirmed recently by the Secretary of State in the Commons. Funding for the arts has steadily increased over the past five years but it is now threatened by an attack of traditional Treasury pecksniffery which affects understanding of the arts but ignores the crucial fact that artistic talent is a resource so precious that it is not easily subject to regulation by parsimony. There is all the difference between the prudent disposition and management of scarce resources and the denial of them as an article of dogmatic frugality as a necessary antidote to the proven success of the arts in this country over the past few years.” [2]

Lord Palumbo, Chairman, Arts Council of Great Britain - 1993
 

“We believe that it is very important for the Government to set out a clear, overarching policy for dance, writing down the implicit objectives which the Arts Minister seemingly devised in preparation for oral evidence to us. These were: excellence, access and contribution to healthy living. It is very important that the profile of dance, and its potential to contribute to different policy areas, is raised throughout Government and beyond. Rt Hon Estelle Morris, the Minister for the Arts, DCMS, outlined for the Committee, the Government’s policy on dance: “The Government’s policy I think is three-fold. Firstly, to cherish excellence and to make sure as a nation that we maintain our record and our reputation of having excellent dance companies. I suppose in shorthand you might say that is the art, excellence, to make sure we support what is there. Secondly, I think our job is to work with the Department for Education and Skills in particular, and other organisations, to make sure that everybody has access to dance from that very first experience, making sure that every child at some point during their school years or their early years experiences dance, and making sure that for those who want to there is a pathway through. Whether that pathway leads to the excellence end of the scale or whether it just leads to adulthood where they continue to do dance is up to them. Thirdly, I think this is increasingly something that we are talking about in the Department, to work with a range of departments across Whitehall to maximise the contribution of dance to healthy living. I see those three areas – excellence, access and the contribution to healthy living – as I suppose the three–pronged approach that Government has to dance. 

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In oral evidence, we discussed with the Minister for the Arts the Government’s strategy for dance and she told us: “I see those three areas - excellence, access and the contribution to healthy living - as I suppose the three–pronged approach that Government has to dance. Having said that, I did enquire, and Government does not as such have a written policy on dance. It is not something that it has done a policy statement on or has featured grandly in either manifestos or department policy strategies but of course the Arts Council does have a policy on dance and I suppose that is where the action is taking place at the moment. We believe that the Government should have a specific policy for dance which should build on this three-pronged approach - excellence, access and contribution to healthy living. We believe that it is the role of ACE to have a strategy (although not written at present) for dance in regard to excellence and development of the art form.” [3]

Unattributed, House of Commons Culture Media and Sport Committee - Arts Development: Dance - 2004 

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“We are prepared to make choices – sometimes tough ones – about how we commit our funding to respond to the kind of ambitious thinking and high quality work that will take our priorities forward. We believe they will help us develop a confident, diverse and innovative dance sector that is valued by and in tune with the communities it serves. We want dance in this country to maintain and develop its international reputation. For this to happen, artists must continue to have the opportunity to push the boundaries of the artform and produce work of the highest quality. The creativity and diversity of artists working in this country, our infrastructure for education, participation and professional training, the developments in dance and the moving image, and our support for artistic development set a world standard. Dance performance and participation celebrate our capacity to communicate through movement. They offer new ways of understanding our world and our humanity. There are a number of ways in which dance can be developed and distributed to ensure it reaches a wider audience. We would like to see more collaborations between producers, promoters and dance artists and a stronger touring infrastructure for live dance, with consortia of presenting venues and theatres commissioning new dance works.” [4]

Unattributed, Arts Council England - 2006
 

“Artistic quality is one of five criteria that we use in assessing applications to Grants for the arts and reviewing regularly funded organisations. It is central to our responsibility for public funding and our role as an arts development agency. Everyone experiences artistic work in their own way, and everyone’s experience is valid. People respond to artistic experiences differently too. We may be inspired, thrilled or challenged by the experience; we may respond emotionally, intellectually, physically or spiritually. The capacity to engage us directly and in different ways is one of the strengths of the arts, one of the ways in which the arts can change the lives of individuals and communities. It can also make artistic quality difficult to talk about and define. [5]

Unattributed, Arts Council England - 2006
 

“Our policy summarises the context for dance and the Arts Council’s role. It sets out our vision for dance and the priorities we have set to help us deliver it. Our ambition is for more people of all ages to enjoy and take part in dance that challenges, provokes, entertains and inspires them. Artform definition. Dance plays a key part in contemporary culture and is a popular social activity. Its impact is visual, kinaesthetic, intellectual and emotional. Artistically dance has grown and expanded into a myriad of styles and formats since the 1970s. Today, England has a leading reputation for diversity, support for artistic development, and education and training in dance. Screen dance offers new creative challenges and collaborations for artists and new means of engaging with dance for audiences. As creative practice, performance and participatory activity, dance engages all sectors of the population in theatres, dance houses, schools, arts centres, public spaces, and digitally, on film and television. Most dance tours across the country.” [6]

Unattributed, Arts Council England - 2007

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“The time has come to reclaim the word ‘excellence’ from its historic, elitist undertones and to recognise that the very best art and culture is for everyone; that it has the power to change people’s lives, regardless of class, education or ethnicity. It is also time to trust our artists and our organisations to do what they do best - to create the most excellent work they can - and to strive for what is new and exciting, rather than what is safe and comfortable. To do this we must free artists and cultural organisations from outdated structures and burdensome targets, which can act as millstones around the neck of creativity.” [7]

James Purnell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - 2008

“The best definition of excellence I have heard is that excellence in culture occurs when an experience affects and changes an individual. An excellent cultural experience goes to the root of living. There is also an important difference between what I define as excellence and what I would call good practice. Excellence is about experience and good practice is what leads to it. There can be no doubting the value of excellent administration, financial management and research; all of these are factors that contribute to excellence of experience. Good practice alone, however, is not what I mean by excellence. The notion that the arts are not for everyone must be tackled head-on, since excellent art is by definition for, and relevant to, absolutely everyone.” [8]

Sir Brian McMaster, Author of Supporting Excellence in the Arts - 2008

“In this country an increasing number of people lead sedentary lifestyles and rates of obesity are rising. The need to improve levels of physical activity and develop healthier lifestyles has never been more pressing. The government has provided leadership and guidance on making healthier choices in the documents Choosing Health: Making Healthier Choices Easier and Choosing Activity: A Physical Activity Plan, but to improve their health and well-being, people need a range of suitable options. Dance can have a powerful effect on people’s lives - anyone can dance and enjoy dancing - and we want to see the physical, emotional, mental and social benefits of dance extended to as many people as possible.” [9]

David Lammy MP Minister for Culture and Caroline Flint MP Minister for Public Health - 2008
 

“The beginning of 2008 was not a good year for the Arts Council. The Investment Strategy review undertaken in 2007/08 led to an outcry within the sector and the new Chief Executive of Arts Council England, Alan Davey responded by commissioning a review by Baroness McIntosh. This was published in July 2008 along with the Arts Council’s response to the review. Following this Arts Council England published a new three-year plan, embarked on the development of a peer review process and an organisational review. This context provided the background for a speech from Alan Davey in November 2008 at the Royal Society of Arts. He stated: ‘My starting point tonight is a belief that if we get it right we can enter a new era in which artistic excellence, risk and innovation are at the heart of what we do in the arts in England. This will be linked to a new sense of ambition as to how we engage audiences and deepen their understanding and ability to respond to the work produced. But at the same time I also believe that achieving this change will require courage - from the Arts Council, from those artists and arts organisations we fund, and from those who fund us. The Arts Council must make difficult, contested decisions, and stick with the decisions it makes - really supporting risk and innovation. Those funded must develop a new honesty and frankness about what they do - some may find this uncomfortable.” [10]

Alan Davey, CEO, Arts Council England - 2008 

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“Excellence in Dance. A debate on excellence in the publicly funded arts sector became a major focus for the DCMS in 2007. It was to be a move away from the instrumental use of dance and was originally raised in a paper by the then Secretary of State, Tessa Jowell. James Purnell, the next Secretary of State continued this shift of emphasis by the government. Sir Brian McMaster was invited by him to consider how public subsidy can best support ‘excellence’ in the arts. The Arts Council England Dance Conversations referred to above provided a useful forum for sharing the thinking behind the McMaster report. Alistair Spalding of Sadler’s Wells and Stella Hall from Culture 10, Newcastle Gateshead, both spoke at separate conversations about excellence. 

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Alistair Spalding spoke of Sadler’s Wells’ own conversations with leading artists; these are broadcast on screens in the theatre’s circulation spaces and on the website and the Sadler’s Wells player. He spoke eloquently about an interview with Bill Forsythe, the American choreographer. He said that Bill spoke about perfection rather than excellence, acknowledging how much of himself goes into the making of a work seeking that perfection. Stella Hall talked about the qualities of excellence which included; rising above the ordinary, tenacity, flexibility, wide-ranging experiences, trying new things, fearlessness, openness to failure, good models of feedback that inspire you to go further and try again, identifying weakness and building on failure. She felt that excellence was not unplanned and that it was important to risk failure and then move on. 

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The Arts Council England published its measures for quality and how it was applied to the arts some time ago [2006] via an internal information sheet - Assessing Artistic Quality. It says: "Our approach is to consider three dimensions of artistic work:

• idea - the concept or artistic impetus behind the work 

• practice - the effectiveness of how the work is put into practice and the impact it has on those experiencing it 

• development - the contribution the work makes to the development of the artist, the artform and the arts more widely

This approach gives us a framework for describing artistic quality and we use it, described in different ways, when assessing regularly funded organisations and all applications for Grants for the Arts."

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There is a need for wider debate around dance aesthetics and different genres of dance in order to further develop excellence, innovation and diversity through bringing together choreographers, producers and dancers to reflect on their practice.” [11]

Susanne Burns and Sue Harrison / Arts Council England - 2009

“People often ask what Arts Council England means by excellence. It is a tricky word, lazily taken for granted by some, suspected by others as carrying connotations of class or conventional culture, contentious, politically loaded and capable of starting fights. However, it is the star we steer by so we need to explain what we, at least, understand by the idea. Everyone will have their own sense of what excellence is, but for us it is simply the bravest, most original, most innovative, most perfectly realised work of which people are capable - whether in the creation of art, its performance, its communication or its impact on audiences. We cannot expect excellence every day from everyone, but we can insist on the aspiration towards it. And the Arts Council’s job is to recognise it, support it, nurture it and protect its freedom to be itself as far as we possibly can. The Arts Council is not an academy. It is an organisation whose duty is to engage with living artists and audiences, to encourage and inspire to ever-greater ambition and boldness. And excellence, in its most creative sense, is at the heart of our vision for the arts that we support. To be relevant in the 21st century, any definition of excellence has to find room for participation in art, as well as the classical notion of creation. But art, like excellence, will always elude neat definition. We must be as clear as we can and then acknowledge that it simply has mysterious aspects that are immensely powerful and can never be anticipated or accounted for.” [12]

Dame Liz Forgan, Chair, Arts Council England - 2010

“Some young and already great choreographers such as Hofesh Shechter and Akram Khan are producing work that really does get to the heart of humanity. In 2010 we have the conditions for excellence in the arts in this country that are quite simply working. We want to keep this golden age alive, for the long-term good of the arts themselves, for their place in society, and simply for the fact they make this nation rich in intellectual, spiritual and economic terms. We hope the ambition set out here matches that of the arts leaders, artists and audiences we have been talking to. It begins with excellence, because without that what we do does not work.” [13]

Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England - 2010

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“Goal 1: Talent and artistic excellence are thriving and celebrated. The excellence and innovation of some British community and education work is internationally recognised. This was considered to be an under-resourced area of work, both in import and export. Risk-taking and innovation is high on the agenda for many [National Dance] agencies who feel that providing research and development is a vital area of what an agency should be doing. Agencies feel it is their responsibility to improve the quality of choreography and dance practice. Agencies felt that they should be providing better support to emerging artists if they are going to successfully develop world-class choreographers and dancers. Some agencies have been designated as centres for advanced training, (CATs) through partnering with the Department for Children, Schools and Families to be part of the national strategy towards excellence for music and dance. The centres were welcomed although it was felt that they should establish a better shared approach to widening access and continue to offer culturally diverse dance training.” [14]

Susanne Burns and Sue Harrison (unattributed) / Arts Council England - 2010

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“Our guiding principle in making judgements across this spectrum is to look for excellence: how original, innovative and artistically ambitious is the work, project, or event? Does it, in some way, have the ability or potential to change how the audience or participants view the world? While the definition of excellence is rightly a matter of continuous debate, we will confidently shape that debate. Our investment will favour art that is both artistically excellent and inspiring to audiences. Our commitment to excellence demands a commitment to diversity in the arts. We know that the arts we currently support are not as diverse as they could or should be. There are still barriers in the arts world that mean that the potential for great art to be produced and enjoyed remains unrealised. We are becoming clearer about how the country’s artistic excellence is reliant on, and benefits from, the richness and innovation that diversity brings. Our vision is of England as a world-leading creative and cultural nation. In 2021 the arts are thriving. They are internationally renowned for excellence – diverse new work is being created, art forms are evolving, and artists can develop their talent. Great art inspires; it encourages people to value the arts. Without a dedicated pursuit of excellence, the achievements of artists and arts organisations would diminish and audiences would suffer. Excellence does not just happen. It requires a concerted effort to nurture talented artists from the earliest years. We want to establish England as a pre-eminent world centre for artistic excellence. This means a vigorous commitment to enabling artists to take risks and change direction. It means encouraging excellence in all its forms and defending and celebrating freedom of expression.” [15]

Unattributed, Arts Council England - 2011

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“Ambition for Excellence (AfE) is an Arts Council England fund that aimed to stimulate and support excellence across the arts sector in England. The AfE fund opened for applications in May 2015 with the final awards being made in February 2018. Arts Council England invested £35.2m into the programme, funding a total of 67 projects led by 66 organisations (The Young Vic in London had two funded projects). The specific formal aims of the Ambition for Excellence programme were to:
 

• Contribute to the development of strong cultural places, 

• Grow and develop talent and leadership in the regions and across artforms, 

• Create the highest quality new work, including for outdoor and festival contexts, 

• Give an international dimension to excellent work

The Programme focused on the funding of creative and development opportunities for large-scale projects that could support a step change in practice both within and beyond the funded organisations. The aims of AfE were very well aligned to those of Let’s Create, the new Arts Council England strategy for 2020-2030. For many grantee organisations, Let’s Create provides a new framework within which to build on the platform provided by Ambition for Excellence.” [16]

In2Impact / Arts Council England - 2022

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“ACE should replace Let’s Create with a new, less prescriptive strategy that is both ambitious, simple and reflects the government’s ambition of excellence for all but that allows each organisation or individual to apply according to their strengths and the unique contribution they can make to delivering a vibrant and innovative creative sector that is consistent with the overarching strategy of the Arts Council. Access to artistic excellence should not be consigned to the privileged few, and a national Arts Council, free from political interference, is the best way to ensure that these benefits are realised across the country and by all the communities within it.  Excellence and access to excellence were two principles that underpinned Jennie Lee’s view of the arts. Though ‘ambition and quality’ are a core investment principle in Let’s Create, ACE’s current approach was seen as interpreting this in a way that fails to give proper value to artistic excellence and does not enable access by all communities to excellence. Of course ACE needs a strategy to inform its work, but a strategy should first and foremost facilitate artistic excellence as well as access to excellence. It must have a simple set of guiding principles that can be applied to support innovation and risk taking. To address the challenges we have identified, this paper sets out a suggested way to both strengthen national decision-making whilst also strengthening the regional voice in decision-making and ensuring that artistic excellence is properly balanced with other outcomes.  If we really do want to ensure more and more communities access excellence, we have to rescue touring. The challenge for the Arts Council is to achieve both excellence and participation together.” [17]

Baroness Margaret Hodge - 2026

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“As we look to the challenges that lie ahead, one thing is clear. For the good of all, cultural organisations and artists must continue to achieve excellence in their work: both in creating, inspiring, and pushing boundaries, and in reaching more people in more places. You will see: A simpler, more streamlined framework that supports the ambitions of our artists and creative professionals, and allows their unique strengths to shine through. It will confirm that excellence matters, and will commit us to working to ensure all communities have access to high quality cultural experiences and opportunities to develop their creative potential. Currently, we provide multi-year funding to a country-wide network of close to 1000 organisations via our National Portfolio Investment Programme. This is the most consequential investment the Arts Council makes. These organisations are at the centre of our national cultural life: they are committed to excellence and innovation in their creative and cultural practice; they are one of the country’s key employers of creative professionals, both as full-time members of staff and as freelancers; they develop new talent; they champion artistic freedom; they play a critical role in the commercial creative ecology; and they bring entertainment, inspiration and joy to millions every year. 

We will continue to involve those we work with in key stages of the design process for the next National Portfolio, to ensure that the programme we develop puts them first, removes barriers, gives them scope to demonstrate the excellence and individuality of their contribution, and ultimately supports us to make the best possible decisions. This new framework will draw on the values of equality and diversity that underpin our current strategy, and which were endorsed by the Independent Review. It will confirm that excellence matters, and it will centre the distinctive creative and cultural practices of the artforms, museums and libraries that we support, so that everyone applying to us can see themselves clearly in our aims. The steps we have set out – rooted in service design, driven by evidence, and guided by artform expertise – will reduce burdens, unlock opportunities, and strengthen the resilience and reach of England’s cultural ecology. Working with our partners across the country, we will deliver tangible improvements that protect artistic freedom, nurture and celebrate excellence, widen access, and give citizens more power to shape how we invest in their communities.” [18]

Darren Henley, CEO, Arts Council England - 2026

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“Access to arts and culture is not a luxury - it is a necessity. It shapes our communities and enriches our lives. This government believes that excellence must be open to everyone, wherever they live and whatever their background. A national Arts Council, connected to the places and people it serves, is essential to making that vision a reality.” [19]

Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - 2026