More artists, writers and composers at an early stage of their careers should get public money from Arts Council England, the body’s chairman, Sir Nicholas Serota, has said.

The east of England could also benefit from extra investment in the coming years and libraries are set to get more help to play a larger role in their communities.

ACE will next month publish its 10-year strategy for the arts outlining its strategic visions and goals. It replaces its previous strategy, Great Art and Culture for Everyone, which covered the years 2010-20.

In an interview with the Guardian, Serota recalled a “salutary” survey of 5,000 people who were asked what the arts meant to them, to which a number replied “not very much”. People were also asked if they listened to music and replied “all the time”.

Serota said: “There’s obviously an idea about the arts which is about it being elitist. In sport they don’t have any difficulty at all in recognising the difference between a knockabout game and the Premier League. They recognise there is the professional game and something they can be involved with on a Sunday morning.

“If we could get to the same position in the arts we would be well placed. It [arts and culture] is just something that is part of life rather than something which is over there and separate.”

Serota said a priority in the strategy would be “to try to reach those people who are not participating. There are too many places that in order to see something of real quality you have to travel long distances.”

That could include more money for the arts in eastern England. “It is interesting, looking at where the big investments have been made in recent years,” Serota said.

“Frankly there has been more on the west side of the country than on the east, for various reasons. Manchester has been very successful. If you look up the east coast from the east Midlands to Newcastle … there are a whole range of towns and cities which need further investment.”

Helping artists early will be a priority. “It will be about giving more support to writers, artists, composers at an early stage in their career so that they can make a career and then flourish.”

He said it was astonishing how many winners of the Mercury music prize had benefited from ACE support early in their careers, and not big sums. “Maybe £10,000 to £15,000 to get help and on their way … it makes a difference at the right moment.”

Libraries, which have suffered badly in recent years due to government spending cuts, could get more help.

Serota said: “There is big scope when you talk about what is happening in high streets and communities for libraries to play a much larger role. Many are already. Libraries are trusted places. They are places people feel safe in. Sustaining libraries and helping them move into the 21st century is an important part of what the Arts Council should be doing.”

Many in the arts are nervous about the future, unsure of the consequences of Brexit, how pro-arts a Boris Johnson government will be, and whether the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will be scrapped or merged into another government department.

Serota said he would be disappointed if the culture department went, but on the whole he was optimistic. “I have to be.”

He added: “Brexit will make us have to paddle even harder. The strength of the arts in this country depends partly on international exchange and having good companies work here but also being able to draw on international talent just as countries abroad draw on British talent. The exchange of individuals in that way is very important.

“I think Boris did demonstrate he recognised that when he was mayor of London. When he made his first speech as prime minister in Manchester, he mentioned the arts high in his list of priorities. So I think he understands and appreciates the value of the arts in themselves but also the value of what they can bring to communities.”

Serota became chair of ACE in 2017 after three decades in charge of Tate galleries. It has meant seeing far more theatre and dance than visual arts previews, which has been a thrill, he said.

Asked which shows he had enjoyed recently, he mentioned The Arrival at the Bush theatre in London, Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes at Sadler’s Wells and the National Theatre’s production of Three Sisters, a retelling of Chekhov by Inua Ellams that relocates the action to late-1960s Nigeria.

It was a really bold production, he said, and a joy “to see the NT filled with a different kind of audience from the one that would normally be there. To see that audience seeing things in that play that a British white audience didn’t understand.”