What we're doing!

We’re calling on the UK Government to create a new legal status — "ARCO" (Arts for Community Organisation) — to support choirs, youth theatres, cultural ensembles, and other community arts groups. These groups deserve tax relief, funding access, and national recognition — just like local sports clubs already receive.

Across the UK, thousands of community arts groups bring people together, support mental health and emotional wellbeing, and keep culture alive — often with no funding, no recognition, and no legal support.

We believe it’s time to change that.

We’re calling for a new legal status:
ARCO – Arts for Community Organisation

This status would:

• Allow Amateur arts groups to receive Gift Aid on donations
• Provide business rate relief on venues and rehearsal spaces
• Improve access to grants and funding
• Offer formal recognition for the public good they deliver
• Reduce admin by offering a simpler alternative to full charity status

Right now, community sports clubs have all of this — through a model called CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club). If you ask anyone who sings on a regular basis, they will tell you singing is sport in itself!

Ken Burton - choral composer and music director whose credits include: 

• BBC Radio & TV productions including Eastenders, Songs of Praise and Sing while you work. 
• Movies - Marvel's Black Panther - Wakanda Forever, Disney's Mufasa and Candy Cane Lane.
• Various events at Buckingham Palace for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and now His Majesty, King Charles.

"Both scientific study and real life experience confirm the value of the arts, in benefiting humanity holistically-in our physical, spiritual, mental, emotional and social lives." - Ken Burton

The arts deserve the same.

Community Choirs, Youth theatres, Steel bands, Community Drama, Faith-based Arts Groups, and more — they are as vital to our society as any sport. 

They build confidence, community, and belonging. They change lives.

It’s time for the law to catch up.

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Support this petition and help us bring ARCO to life — so amateur arts get the support they’ve earned.

What’s Next?

This petition is just the first step.

Once we build enough public support here, we’ll take the next step and launch an official petition to UK Parliament — where we can formally ask the government to create this new legal status for the arts.

If you're a UK citizen or resident, we’ll invite you to sign that too — so that the voices calling for change are heard both in our communities and in Parliament.

"What Sport is for the body, Arts is for the Soul"