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Registered charity · Manchester

The Arts Council of England

The Arts Council of England is a registered charity (number 1036733) based in Manchester, governed by 16 trustees and chaired by SIR Nicholas Andrew Serota since 2017. Latest income £843m (2025). Source: Charity Commission register, updated 25th October 2026.

Also known as Arts Council England (Charity Commission)

  • 16 trustees
  • Income £843m (2025)
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Official record Charity Commission · updated 25th October 2026 · Sources · Free, no card or password

Network

The large node is The Arts Council of England. Red nodes are organisations, white nodes are people. Dashed links are historical or inferred. Click any node to explore.

Who leads it

Current trustees as listed by the Charity Commission, which does not publish previous trustees.

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People on this board also govern

Similar charities are matched by type of organisation or purpose and listed by latest income; shared trustees are formal board links. Neither is proof the organisations work together.

About

What it does
Arts/culture/heritage/science
Where
Throughout England
Website
www.artscouncil.org.uk (opens in a new tab)
Registered
1994

Income and spending

  • YearIncomeSpending
  • 2025£843m£731m
  • 2024£803m£756m
  • 2023£796m£990m
Earlier years
  • 2022£942m£953m
  • 2021£1489m£1420m

Income trend, 2021 to 2025.

Charitable objects

(1) TO DEVELOP AND IMPROVE THE KNOWLEDGE UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE OF THE ARTS. (2) TO INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE ARTS TO THE PUBLIC IN ENGLAND; AND (3) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC AND TO FURTHER ANY OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSE WHICH RELATES TO THE ESTABLISHMENT, MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION OF MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES (WHICH ARE EITHER PUBLIC OR FROM WHICH THE PUBLIC MAY BENEFIT) AND TO THE PROTECTION OF CULTURAL PROPERTY; AND(4) TO ADVISE AND CO-OPERATE, WHERE IT IS APPROPRIATE TO DO SO, WITH DEPARTMENTS OF OUR GOVERNMENT, OUR SCOTTISH AMINISTRATION, THE NORTHERN IRELAND EXECUTIVE AND THE WELSH MINISTERS, LOCAL AUTHORITIES, THE ARTS COUNCILS AND EQUIVALENT ORGANISATIONS IN THE MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES SECTOR IN SCOTLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND (OR THEIR SUCCESSORS) AND OTHER BODIES ON ANY MATTERS RELATED TO THE OBJECTS IN (1), (2) AND (3) ABOVE.

Grants received

5 grants · £554,314 total

360Giving data, published by funders. Coverage only includes funders who publish their grants to 360Giving, so these figures are a floor, not a complete picture.

Top funders

  • The Baring Foundation · £500,000 (3 grants)
  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport · £50,000
  • The National Lottery Community Fund · £4,314

Most recent

Contracts awarded

30 contracts · £3,209,683 total

From Contracts Finder and Find a Tender (Open Government Licence v3.0), where this organisation is recorded as the buyer. Suppliers are matched to a Governance Register company or charity page at confidence 0.7 or higher; below that they are shown by name only.

Top suppliers

Most recent

Board analysis

Board DNA

How this board is put together, from Charity Commission trustee records and Companies House - deterministic, no AI.iBoard compositionCounted from the dated Charity Commission trustee register: the current board only, past trustees excluded.

16 trustees on the board

3.1y median 3y
average tenure
9y
longest tenure

Trustees past 6 years

6.8y
average years in governance

First-time vs portfolio trustees

First-time (13)

Portfolio (3)

6
company-linked trustees

Sector coverage iSector coverageThe charitable fields this board's trustees govern in elsewhere, by Charity Commission classification. Excludes this charity.

Arts/culture/heritage/science 16Education/training 3General Charitable Purposes 1Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity 1Other Charitable Purposes 1

Commercial experience iCommercial experienceThe industries this board's members are company directors in, by Companies House SIC code. Excludes this organisation's own company.

Arts and leisure 6Education 3Health and social care 1

Succession forecast iSuccession forecastThe number of board seats likely to open in the next twelve months - summed across the board from each dated trustee’s tenure - and the profile worth recruiting next. From the filed record, deterministic.

🔒 Succession forecast is a Pro feature - the board seats likely to open in the next year and the ideal next trustee. Explore Pro →

Health of the organisation facts side by side - the conclusion is yours

Income v spending, filed accountsiIncome v spendingTotal gross income and expenditure from filed annual returns, Charity Commission, last 5 years.
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
incomespending£843.1m latest income · income exceeded spending in 2024 and 2025
ReservesiReserves12 x free reserves / annual expenditure, from the Part B annual return. The sector median is computed across all Part B filers in the same income band.

0.0 months of spending held in free reserves · median for charities its size: 3.5 months · was 2.1 in 2021

704 from 618 in 2021
EmployeesiEmployeesHeadcount as filed in Part B annual returns, per financial year. Shown exactly as filed; year-on-year figures may be filed on different bases, so a comparison is only shown when the filings are plausibly comparable.

Sources

Official record from the Charity Commission register for England and Wales. Governance Register calculates the connections.

Record details
Registered charity number
1036733
Status
Registered
Governing document
ROYAL CHARTER GRANTED 30/03/1994AS AMENDED ON 13/03/1996AS AMENDED ON 22/04/1998AS AMENDED BY SUPPLEMENTAL CHARTER DATED 31/05/2002AS AMENDED ON 12/02/2008AS AMENDED ON 12/10/2011
Contact on the register
0161 934 4317 · enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk
Edition
Register edition compiled 25th October 2026
Labels
Official record from the register · Calculated derived by Governance Register. Anything added by an organisation or person is labelled as provided by them.

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