Samuel West explores the fuss around THAT advert and celebrates some of the best creative responses.

Arts Emergency mentee, Xena Frailing, reports back on her own experience of attending the National Campaign's Open Space event on Friday 26th June.

In response to the publication of the latest Arts Index, and the current global Covid-19 pandemic, the National Campaign for the Arts hosted an Open Space event for arts leaders and activists.

The Arts Index provides data for arts organisations to make their case for increased public funding of arts activities, but it can be used in exactly the same way by individuals. Here's how you can be your own advocate for the arts.

The National Campaign of the Arts is run by a board of unpaid trustees, who volunteer their time to producing the NCA's key projects - the Arts Index, the Hearts for the Arts Awards, and to the scoping of a large-scale, public facing campaign designed to encourage and enable the public at large to demonstrate their support for the arts.

NCA Chair, Samuel West, set up poetry-reading initiative - PANDEMIC POEMS - just ahead of the official UK Coronavirus lock-down. The poems provide a much needed sense of perspective, reflection, and some hope in a time of uncertainty and grief. Here he writes about the Pandemic Poems process:

The efforts of arts organisations to embrace digital performances and online sharing has been awe-inspiring. Particularly awe-inspiring for us at the NCA was how the National Student Drama Festival innovated all of its plans for their 2020 festival into a festival that could be entirely accessible online. NSDF's Director, James Phillips, tells us of the challenges and successes of this unique year for NSDF: