Arts Council England Defends Its New ‘Relevance’ Funding Requirement

Simon Mellor, the Council’s deputy chief executive: “To be clear, of course we’re not going to be asking organisations to justify the relevance of individual works of art. We do, however, think that it is not unreasonable to expect organisations in receipt of the public’s money to be relevant – to ensure that the way they work, including their public programmes and other activities, is valued by their communities and stakeholders.” – Arts Professional