Orchestras Live General Manager, Nancy Buchanan, reflects on a thought-provoking panel about the English Devolution & Community Impact Bill at the annual conference of the Association of British Orchestras.

The enlightening – and rather thought-provoking – session on Devolution has stayed with me. Hosted by Katy Shaw, the excellent panel discussed the impact the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill may have on the arts, as combined and mayoral authorities gain greater powers. Although devolved decision making is likely to better reflect local priorities, there are very real risks as well as opportunities. Local politicians will have more say over cultural priorities, with the arts potentially becoming their toolkit to deliver their political agenda. This risks jeopardising – or even dismantling – the arm’s length principle upheld by Arts Council England.

The size and population of each devolved authority varies hugely. How can we have a shared framework for evaluation when regions differ so greatly? Those mayoralties which are well established need to share their data and best practice with the smaller, newer authorities who will struggle to make robust decisions with nothing to base them on. And what about those areas which are not part of a devolved region? The pots of money they can access will be much smaller. Fragmentation looms and the strategic overview currently provide by ACE may disappear.

At present, the Bill does not even mention Arts, Culture or Heritage, giving no scope for any devolved funds to be ringfenced for these areas. If this is not addressed, how long will it be before the share of funding previously spent on arts and culture is instead spent on statutory provision like social care and housing? Fragmentation and the loss of a national, strategic overview is a very real risk as the picture becomes more complicated.

So, what can we do? We must engage now with whoever might be leading the next administration in each new region and mitigate the risk of being dependent on any one person for our voice to be heard.We must integrate what we do into the fabric of the new structure before it becomes hardened – and make our partnership indispensable. Everyone at Orchestras Live needs to be fluent in what we do and why we do it – and be ready to have an impromptu conversation, telling the stories of the people those decision makers are there to represent.