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DEMOCRATISING DECISION-MAKING AND ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND: THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGE

DEMOCRATISING DECISION-MAKING AND ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND: THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGE. Clive Gray Department of Public Policy Reader in Cultural Policy De Montfort University. The Key Questions. Representative and participatory democracy: clash or complement?

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DEMOCRATISING DECISION-MAKING AND ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND: THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGE

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  1. DEMOCRATISING DECISION-MAKING AND ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND: THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGE Clive Gray Department of Public Policy Reader in Cultural Policy De Montfort University

  2. The Key Questions • Representative and participatory democracy: clash or complement? • Whose interest?: pleasing the many, protecting the few • Accountability: where will the buck stop if the system changes? • Organisation and democracy: embedding change

  3. ‘The Duty To Involve’ • Top-down • Seeking out organisational representatives to involve in activities • Involved in what? • Decision-making? • Policy-making? • Service Management? • Service delivery? • Service control?

  4. Arts Council England and Democracy • Part of system of representative democracy • Serving ‘the public’ as a whole • ‘Arm’s-length’ quango • Political/administrative independence of action • But political influence via appointments/Public Service and Funding Agreements (amongst other things)

  5. Arts Council England and Whose Interests? • Class interests? (cf. Jenkins, 1979) • Social interests? (cf. Hutchison, 1982) • Technocratic/aesthetic interests (cf. Gray, 2000) • And what about ... • Gender/ethnic interests? • Geographical/regional interests? • Producer/consumer interests?

  6. Arts Council England and Accountability • Accountability to: • Parliament (which votes the money) • Ministers (who formally appoint the members and agree Departmental policy priorities) • Clients (who they fund/invest in/support) • The general public (on whose behalf it operates)

  7. Minimalism and Maximalism • Minimalism: effective non-participation – manipulation/therapy • Maximalism: citizen power – citizen control/delegated power/partnership • Tokenism – informing/consultation/placation

  8. Changing the System of Democracy? • The ‘duty to involve’ as: • Syndicalism (cf. Lord Goodman) • Corporatism (involving key interests) • What are new actors meant to do? • Minimalist position: no impact on democracy • Maximalist position: complete re-structuring of internal democracy

  9. Changing Interests? • New interests or existing ones? • Minimalist position: no real change – possible formalisation of informal arrangements • Maximalist position: formalisation of relationships of ACE and interests • ‘Capture’ of ACE by interests or interests by ACE? • Major problem of interest identification

  10. Changing Accountabilities • Minimalist position: no change • Maximalist position: major change • New balance between accountability to: • Parliament/Ministers/clients/general public • and • ‘involved’ interests to their own constituencies • ACE to the ‘involved’ interests

  11. Changing the ACE? • Formal and informal structures and practices • Formal: top-down management approach? • Informal: bottom-up approach? • Enthusiasts and opponents – internally and externally • ‘Public Value’ work and organisational change?

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