We’ve published a new report called ‘Leading the Crowd’ – showing the important role that public investment in England’s arts and cultural sector plays in attracting further income from private investors and earned sources. 

The report demonstrates the importance of the ‘Crowding In’ effect. It is this mixed economy model that sustains most cultural organisations in England, combining public funding, private investment and earned income. 

The report shows that public investment makes organisations more viable and attractive to private investors – like having a ‘kite mark’. It also leverages additional income by encouraging innovation, supporting early-stage research and development, and providing the stability organisations need for long-term planning and resilience. 

Based on interviews with eight leading cultural institutions, including National Theatre, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Royal Shakespeare Company, the report identifies six ways that public investment enables Crowding In and how it benefits cultural organisations in: 

• Delivering capital projects
• Generating private investment
• Driving additional commercial income
• Encouraging innovation
• Developing new activity
• Building organisational resilience

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said: “Organisations of all sizes and across art forms have consistently told us that public investment from Arts Council England serves as a mark of quality—giving private investors and philanthropists the confidence to back their work. This report highlights eight such case studies, demonstrating how sustained public funding is vital to the mixed funding ecology that underpins the strength of the cultural sector in this country.”