Arts Council England has published the full details of its next National Portfolio, the five-year investment programme that will set the public funding of producing theatres, opera houses and dance companies from April 2028. Applications open next month, and the Arts Council is saying plainly that demand will run well ahead of the money available.
Arts Council England has set out how organisations will apply for long-term investment in its National Portfolio Investment Programme 2028-33, and how the funding decisions will be reached. The full details were published on Tuesday, ahead of applications opening next month.
It is the second act of a longer story. The changes answer commitments the Arts Council made following the Independent Review of Arts Council England, which asked it to be easier to work with and to draw more regional and citizen voice into decisions about where arts funding lands.
For theatres, this is the round that matters. The National Portfolio is where most of England's subsidised producing houses draw their core public funding, so the decisions taken over the next year will set the budgets those buildings programme against from April 2028 until March 2033 - and, for the first time, the portfolio runs for five years from the outset rather than being fixed for a shorter term.
The application itself has been cut back. Organisations will describe their work and their creative ambitions in their own words, with no attachments required and no detailed delivery plan asked for unless funding is offered. The Arts Council says the redesign was developed through ongoing engagement with users across the cultural sector.
The other half of the change is who gets a say. Thirty-two new Regional Boards, drawn from public policy and civic backgrounds, are being set up to advise on local priorities and challenges - economic growth, health and wellbeing, skills, placemaking and community connection among them. The Arts Council will also gather feedback from Mayoral Strategic Authorities for the first time, and is surveying 20,000 people across England on what culture they want where they live. National panels of artform experts have produced a set of overview analyses, now published for applicants and decision-makers alike.
Dawn Airey, Chair of Arts Council England, said: "Our new National Portfolio process delivers on our commitment to be easier to work with and even more connected to communities. It's about opening up the conversation, so a broader range of voices can influence our investment decisions.
"It's not right that where you live dictates what culture and creativity you get to enjoy. Through our new investment process, we promise to back excellent work that reflects what people value in their own communities, and reaches everyone, not just the well-off and well-located."
Chief Executive Darren Henley was blunter about the arithmetic. "For this National Portfolio process we've said we want organisations to focus on the work, not the paperwork," he said. "We've designed it with applicants, and they've told us it feels much more streamlined. We hope the improvements we've made will be welcome.
"Money is tight. This is going to be a really competitive investment round, and we'll have to make tough decisions. We're giving organisations an opportunity to tell us about their ambition in their terms, and we'll support as much of that ambition as we can."
That warning is repeated in the guidance: the Arts Council expects demand to significantly exceed the funding available, and says decisions will rest not only on the quality of an individual application but on assembling a portfolio that is balanced and complementary across the country. Between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027 it will have invested more than £475 million of government and National Lottery money through the programme, supporting arts organisations, museums and libraries.
Arts Minister Ruth Mackenzie said: "All good luck to the arts organisations starting work on the new NPO process, all thanks to the Arts Council teams for the work they have done already, and looking forward to the World Class Culture in every postcode that new ACE Chair Dawn Airey is encouraging creatives and communities to produce."
Applicants can begin planning now. Submissions will be accepted from October to December 2026, with funding decisions following in summer 2027 and the new portfolio taking effect in April 2028. The full applicant guidance is available on the Arts Council website.
