Arts Council must be a partner, not a parent

On The Guardian's Theatre blog, Lyn Gardner, who has been doing a great job in highlighting problems of arts funding, reports from the latest Devoted and Disgruntled meeting of theatre practitioners.

At Shunt's Devoted and Disgruntled meeting last night, it was clear that artists are prepared to back the Arts Council - but only if there is a genuine change in the relationship between the bureaucrats and the artistic community. Artists must know who is making the decisions and on what basis. The Arts Council must also stop trying to dictate the work it wants made and let artists decide for themselves. Instead of the current relationship, which often seems like that of weary parent and fractious toddler, there must be a relationship of equals. Remember: art would continue if there was no Arts Council; an Arts Council cannot exist without artists.