The 21st century programme arose from one of Arts Council England’s ambitions for the arts: ‘to work with funded arts organisations to help them thrive rather than just survive’. Like many of the organisations it funds, The Arts Council itself faces a challenge in becoming a 21st century arts organisation. Through the 21st century programme’s projects, the Arts Council aims to develop pieces of work introducing new thinking and practice.

Arts spaces of the future Project:
“Arts spaces of the future” was launched in September 2007 by RIBA London and the Arts Council. This project consisted of an architectural ideas competition to invite the capital’s architects to respond to the challenge of creating our future arts spaces.
Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design has been commissioned to design arts spaces of the future, focusing their ideas on the year 2015. These spaces had to reflect our changing lifestyles, expectations and forms of participation; to develop new arts practice and to suggest answers to climate change and issues of sustainability.

Others 21^st century projects:
Procurement: PricewaterhouseCoopers has been commissioned to work with some of Arts Council’s funded organisations, to identify potential opportunities for joint procurement by arts organisations.
Environmental sustainability: Working with the Carbon Trust, Arts Council England will lead a full carbon management programme. They aim to have a positive impact on global warming by reducing emissions from its own buildings, setting an example of best practice, and influencing its funded organisations.
ICT and the arts: a major project on ICT and its effective use by arts organisations in three ways: for business management, for communication and dialogue with customers, and for the digital distribution of artistic output.
Mapping: another major project on the different ways of mapping potential audiences for the arts.

Related links:
Arts Council England
Carbon Trust
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design

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From RIBA
“RIBA London and Arts Council England invite the capital’s architects to respond to the challenge of creating our arts spaces of the future; spaces which reflect changing lifestyles, expectations and forms of participation, new and developing arts practice, the need to address climate change and issues of sustainability and the move towards more flexible, publiclyengaged buildings.” (RIBA, 2007: http://www.architecture.com/RegionsAndInternational/UKNationsAndRegions/England/RIBALondon/EventsAndProjects/ArtSpacesOfTheFuture.aspx)

From ACE
“The winning entries to the Arts Space of the Future Competition were announced on 10 January 2008.

We launched Arts Space of the Future with RIBA London in October 2007. The competition invited RIBA’s members in the capital to respond to the challenge of creating our arts spaces of the future; spaces which reflect changing lifestyles, expectations and forms of participation, new and developing arts practice, the need to address climate change, and issues of sustainability and the move towards more flexible, publicly-engaged buildings.

• First prize: Manual Shvartzberg and Yiannis Kanakakis, with writer Fabian Faltin, for Art Spaces lead global ecology of ideas. The winning entry took the form of Financial Times news pages, addressing arts spaces, environmental issues, and challenging the concept of architectural competitions
• Second prize: David Kohn, Director of David Kohn Associates, for Heterotopia
• Third prize: Ashley Seaborne, a student at the University of East London, for Hoodies

The winners and short-listed entries to Arts Space of the Future will be on display in the Lyttelton Foyer at the National Theatre, along with RIBA award-winning arts buildings from the last three decades. The exhibition is open to the public from 11 January to 16 February 2008.

For more information about Arts Space of the Future and the winning entries, visit www.architecture.com/ribalondon”

(ACE, January 2008: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/)

Related Links:
Arts Space of Future Winners
Arts Space of Future Entry Form
Building Design Website – Pictures of the Winners Designs