More than 200 organisations lose their funding ? but there are some winners as Alan Davey announces 'agonising and painful decisions'
More than 200 arts organisations have lost their funding, on a day of wildly mixed fortunes for English arts . Arts Council England (ACE) has announced its grants to theatres, festivals, dance companies, galleries and orchestras, after what its chief executive called "agonising and painful decisions".
In passing on overall government cuts of 15%, the chief executive, Alan Davey, insisted there would not be "equal pain for all". But that meant there were "good organisations we have not been able to fund". Of the 1,330 organisations that had applied for funding for 2012-15, 638 were disappointed. Of those, 206 had been regularly funded by ACE.
The poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, condemned the cutting-off of the Poetry Book Society ? established by TS Eliot in 1953 "to propagate the art of poetry" ? as "a national shame and a scandal". She added: "This news goes beyond shocking and touches the realms of the disgusting."
Big names cut loose include London's Riverside Studios, the St Albans-based theatre group Trestle, Exeter's Northcott Theatre, Derby Theatre, and Shared Experience theatre company, resident at Oxford Playhouse. A spokesman for Shared Experience said the company was "shocked and disappointed; while Northcott said staff were taking the news "in their stride". Dance group the Cholmondeleys & The Featherstonehaughs said it was "enormously saddened" at the 100% cut to its grant. Davey insisted that there had been a "clear intellectual framework" for the decisions, and ACE's chairwoman, Liz Forgan, said she was satisfied that "it couldn't have been done in a clearer or more transparent way".
ACE announced regular funding to 110 new organisations. "We need to make sure that the arts can progress, that this isn't a shutdown period," Davey said. These include a number of smaller, innovative theatre and music companies, such as Gecko, the Clod Ensemble, theatre producers Fuel, T�te-a-T�te Opera and the Opera Group, whose artistic director, John Fulljames, welcomed a "fantastic endorsement".
The larger national organisations saw more or less standardised cuts, with the symphony orchestras taking 11% less in real terms, and the Royal Opera House, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North being cut by 15%. English National Opera took an 11% cut. The National Theatre and the ROH, it was confirmed, applied for less money because "we recognised the overall funding problems ACE faces", according to Tony Hall, the ROH's chief executive.
But the day also brought big uplifts for some. Punchdrunk, the theatre group famous for its immersive dramatic experiences, often played out in abandoned buildings, had a rise of 141% in real terms. The Barbican ? which receives its core funding from the City of London ? received a 108% boost for its outreach work in London's East End. Britten Sinfonia, the Cambridge-based chamber group, received an 11.6% real-terms increase.
The Arcola Theatre in east London received an 82.1% real-terms rise, declaring itself "delighted" with a sum that was "exactly what we need in order to continue to develop contemporary productions which excite and challenge audiences". But its near neighbour the Almeida took a huge 39% cut ? though its management promised "no cuts to our innovative artistic policy or to our ambitions".
The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, which has struggled financially in recent years, took a real-terms cut of 42.5%, but will still receive �900,000 annually, which Davey called "a vote of confidence in their future". Other visual arts organisations saw a lifeline, especially a trio of new galleries due to open this year: Turner Contemporary in Margate (9.8% rise), Firstsite in Colchester (15.8%) and the Hepworth, Wakefield (7.7%). The South London Gallery's director, Margot Heller, greeted its 107% rise as "wonderfully heartening", while Mima, the contemporary art gallery in Middlesbrough, received a boost of 143.8%.
Despite the great disappointment attending many of the decisions, many in the arts world felt that ACE had played a difficult hand as well as the circumstances allowed, with Hall praising Davey's "wise judgments".
Others saw the cuts against a broader canvas. Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said: "I hope we will see some longer-term thinking from government about arts funding. I would like to see more collaboration between government departments which recognises the value of the arts across many other areas of policy ? in education, tourism and inward investment just as much as culture."
Tom Morris, artistic director of the Bristol Old Vic, spoke from New York, where he is preparing his hit show War Horse for its Broadway opening on 14 April. "The economic impact of these cuts will be significant," he said. "War Horse could simply not have happened without public subsidy ? which is now earning money for the National Theatre and for the exchequer."
The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said: "The UK has some of the best culture in the world and we are doing all we can to support it through the challenges of dealing with the deficit, including measures to boost the amount of private giving going to the arts."
But Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, said: "The contention that the cuts will not affect frontline provision of the arts have been blown out of the water. Half of those who applied received no funding. Arts Council England has tried to do its job in good faith ? but taken together with cuts to local authorities and to higher education, the picture is not good."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/mar/30/arts-council-funding-cuts
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