Client
Arts Council England
England’s national development agency for creativity and culture.
About the work
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture, investing public money from government and the National Lottery in arts, museums and libraries across the country.
It’s a registered charity, established by Royal Charter in 1994. Its ten-year strategy, Let’s Create, sets out a vision of an England where everyone’s creativity is valued and everyone can enjoy a remarkable range of cultural experiences. Alongside funding, it supports organisations to develop, works with local government on culture and place, and shapes national cultural policy.
Arts Council England commissioned us to carry out an external review of its Investment Principles Resource Hub, which ran from October 2022 to May 2023. The Investment Principles are the four commitments the Arts Council asks the organisations it funds to work towards: ambition and quality, dynamism, environmental responsibility, and inclusivity and relevance. The Resource Hub is the online collection of guidance and tools that helps them do it.
We recruited and ran an external reference group of cultural professionals and a youth advisory board to put the Hub through its paces. Alongside these sessions, we surveyed the sector, analysed how the resources were being used, and benchmarked what good engagement should look like. Our interim and final reports, plus a public executive summary, set out what was working, where the gaps were, and how the Arts Council could commission future resources. The Arts Council went on to implement most of our recommendations.
More recently, we’ve worked alongside the Arts Council in Devon. In 2026, Devon’s councils, led by North Devon Council and working in partnership with Arts Council England, commissioned us to map the county’s cultural assets ahead of local government reorganisation. The mapping covered around 1,050 assets, activities and organisations down to parish level, with 75 examined in depth.
“We’ve had such a great experience working with Always Possible. Their sector knowledge, structured approach, and practical recommendations have been invaluable. The final report was well structured and easy to navigate. We would definitely work with them again.”
Nick Birchill – Project Manager, Development Programmes, Arts Council England
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