Useful resources relating to arts and culture:
Arts Council England have published their approach to shaping their 2020-2030 strategy. Shaping the Next 10 Years outlines the priorities the Arts Council will work towards when funding arts and culture across England.
In August 2018 the government set out their Civil Society Strategy, which identifies the role of culture in empowering local communities and how the government intends to support charities and social enterprises.
Cultural services are a fundamental of the government's health and wellbeing strategy. Health, Work and Wellbeing: Caring for our Future outlines the intent to develop social prescription and to improve the health and well-being of working age people, looking at evidence of good practice.
The DCMS report Quantifying the Social Impacts of Culture and Sport looks at the social and wellbeing impacts of cultural engagement and sport participation, whilst the report on Quantifying and valuing the wellbeing impacts of culture and sport identifies the impacts of culture and sport engagement on individuals’ wellbeing.
The Arts Council's evidence review The value of arts and culture to people and society focuses on the impact arts and culture have on the economy, health, wellbeing, society and education.
The LGA’s Outcomes Framework for Culture and Sport provides guidance for councils and their partners on how to create a local outcomes framework for culture and sport.
The Cultural Commissioning Programme report Opportunities for Alignment outlines opportunities to strengthen relationships between the arts and culture sector and public sector commissioners.
cCLOA’s publication on The Role of Culture and Leisure in Improving Health and Wellbeing aims to help commissioners and providers of culture and leisure services in England understand and engage more effectively and collaboratively with this key agenda.
The TCPA Culture and Sport Planning Toolkit and good practice guide for Improving Culture, Arts and Sporting Opportunities Through Planning provide guidance on opportunities for culture and sport in the planning system.
Useful resources focussing on libraries:
The framework for the future of public libraries is outlined in the DCMS report Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016 to 2021. This is useful for local leaders when understanding the future trajectory of libraries
Arts Council England's evidence review of the economic contribution of libraries assesses the scale of contribution libraries can make to individuals and communities via the social and educational benefits they provide.
The London Library Change Programme (LLCP) looked at new ways of providing public library services to deliver budget savings and improved efficiency. Working with London boroughs, the LLCP examined the savings and improvements that could be achieved through individual service efficiencies and the sharing of back-office functions.
The Future Libraries Programme, developed by The Local Government Improvement and Development team (LGID) and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA - now part of Arts Council England) tested ten different governance and customer delivery models in councils across the UK, including South London and Hammersmith and Fulham/Kensington and Chelsea/Westminster.