ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING FROM APRIL 2023

[capybara]

Well, ENO has suffered the chop (with support to move north) and the ROH’s grant has been reduced by 9%.

Can’t find the full details yet.

But what kind of warped logic funds the Blackpool illuminations when there is an energy crisis?

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by capybara

[Guest oncnp]

4 minutes ago, capybara said:

Well, ENO has suffered the chop (with support to move north) and the ROH’s grant has been reduced by 9%.

Can’t find the full details yet.

Perhaps I put it in the wrong place...Mods could you merge please

Edited November 4, 2022 by oncnp

[Peanut68]

Hmmmm…. And was ENB implicated in this too? Could the Coliseum become a true home to them or will it become more a concert & short run venue? 

[LinMM]

I just heard this on the radio that the Grant would be awarded to other Arts projects in cities up North which in fairness would not have been quite so out of order except it was then added including other projects like the Blackpool Illuminations!! ……That would be a waste of an Arts Grant! 

[capybara]

3 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Perhaps I put it in the wrong place...Mods could you merge please

The item about Rupert Christiansen was under Not Dance and I thought that people would miss it there.

It seems that figures are being presented in different ways according to which side of the fence the writer is on.

[Lizbie1]

Very interesting that of the opera companies ETO has come out well from this review.

[Ian Macmillan]

The details are in a Spreadsheet that can be downloaded from here:

 

https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/investment23

 

 

[Guest oncnp]

From the other thread....

 

Today's NPO announcement 2023-26 Investment Programme | Arts Council England

 

 a couple of select companies

 

	2018-2022 (average)	2022-2023 (annual)	2023-2026 (annual)	2023/26 - 2022	% change
Royal Opera House	24,755,681	25,211,186	22,268,584	2,487,097	90%
Northern Ballet Limited	3,112,000	3,169,261	3,289,261	177,261	106%
Birmingham Royal Ballet	7,891,000	8,036,194	8,036,194	145,194	102%
Ballet Black	220,000	224,048	424,048	204,048	193%
English National Ballet	6,214,000	6,328,338	6,011,921	202,079	97%
Sadler's Wells	2,456,153	2,501,346	2,376,279	79,874	97%

 

[Guest oncnp]

and as also mentioned on the other thread....this is "offered" funding. Per Mr Beard on the ROH website, there is negotiating to be done on the final number

[Dawnstar]

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

I just heard this on the radio that the Grant would be awarded to other Arts projects in cities up North which in fairness would not have been quite so out of order except it was then added including other projects like the Blackpool Illuminations!! ……That would be a waste of an Arts Grant! 

 

Yes, I did a bit of a double take at seeing the Blackpool Illuminations on the list. I did even more of a double take at seeing a football museum on there.  Given the colossal sums of money football clubs spend on players, surely a football museum could be run with backing from one or more clubs rather than from the Arts Council?

[zxDaveM]

10 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Yes, I did a bit of a double take at seeing the Blackpool Illuminations on the list. I did even more of a double take at seeing a football museum on there.  Given the colossal sums of money football clubs spend on players, surely a football museum could be run with backing from one or more clubs rather than from the Arts Council?

 

playing devil's advocate - it has been argued that arts council funding goes to the rich people's entertainment (opera, ballet, art galleries, museums). As a non-wealthy person I'd obviously disagree with that (well, except maybe opera 😉 ), so there can be an argument for funding for non-London arts type operations - including such things as the Blackpool illuminations and football museums (especially those the Premiership clubs would probably scorn)

Not an easy thing to decide, what is 'of value to society', as others may see as 'rubbish'

[Fonty]

3 hours ago, capybara said:

The item about Rupert Christiansen was under Not Dance and I thought that people would miss it there.

It seems that figures are being presented in different ways according to which side of the fence the writer is on.

 

I put up the article about Rupert Christiansen, and it was in this forum although it was about a month ago so it has slipped off the first page.  The one on the Not Dance forum was just a general discussion about the Arts Council itself. 

 

Not sure about the blackpool illuminations getting funding, unless this event always has been a recipient?

 

  @zxDaveMSurely a football museum is still a museum?  And as for the argument that museums are only for rich people, so many of these are free so you don't need to be rich to go in? 🙂 

[Dawnstar]

13 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

playing devil's advocate - it has been argued that arts council funding goes to the rich people's entertainment (opera, ballet, art galleries, museums). As a non-wealthy person I'd obviously disagree with that (well, except maybe opera 😉 ), so there can be an argument for funding for non-London arts type operations - including such things as the Blackpool illuminations and football museums (especially those the Premiership clubs would probably scorn)

Not an easy thing to decide, what is 'of value to society', as others may see as 'rubbish'

 

It just feels as though the £350,000 going to the Football Museum would be chicken feed for a football club to donate - looking up stats, I see Manchester United paid £89.3 million for a footballer transfer a few years ago & Manchester City paid £100 million only last year. Whereas that same amount would be a fortune to, say, a museum dealing with a more niche subject than football who would never be able to get private funding from a source relating to its subject area.

[Sim]

30 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Not sure about the blackpool illuminations getting funding, unless this event always has been a recipient?

 

 

No, it's a first-time recipient.  I guess it's considered as art...

[Fonty]

2 minutes ago, Sim said:

No, it's a first-time recipient.  I guess it's considered as art...

 

As someone who has very fond memories of the Illuminations in the past, I would be more than happy to see a splendid display sponsored by the Arts Council.  As long as it isn't taken away from other equally deserving causes.  Football museums should be funded by the Premier League.

[Sim]

6 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

As someone who has very fond memories of the Illuminations in the past, I would be more than happy to see a splendid display sponsored by the Arts Council.  As long as it isn't taken away from other equally deserving causes.  Football museums should be funded by the Premier League.

Yes, I hope the displays get better.  I guess it's a huge tourist attraction, especially for people up north, so can also see why they should be given a grant.  I wasn't overwhelmed when I saw the illuminations (admittedly about 20 years ago) so maybe they will become amazing.  

[capybara]

But in the context of an energy crisis?

[Sim]

3 minutes ago, capybara said:

But in the context of an energy crisis?

I agree.....but maybe they are hoping that things will be better once they start doling out the money.  

[LinMM]

Ive seen them twice ..once when I was about 14 and thought they were wonderful way back then and again when in very early 20’s when they were just okay lol! But somehow unless these lights really are truly amazing on Arts installation level or perhaps on a par with Las Vegas …a bit naff but amazing in own way I just don’t see them as worthy of an Arts Grant. There must be other things people in Blackpool and surrounds would really like to have access to regarding the Arts surely? 
 

[capybara]

I guess they help the local economy in all kinds of ways and I CAN buy into that.

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

It just feels as though the £350,000 going to the Football Museum would be chicken feed for a football club to donate - looking up stats, I see Manchester United paid £89.3 million for a footballer transfer a few years ago & Manchester City paid £100 million only last year. Whereas that same amount would be a fortune to, say, a museum dealing with a more niche subject than football who would never be able to get private funding from a source relating to its subject area.

 

It seems to me that football teams that used to have money coming out of their ears have been sold to investors who promptly recover their money from the club they have bought leaving them not necessarily well off as you would imagine.

[Fonty]

So what will happen to ENO now?  Is that it for them?  I can't open some of the links as I am abroad.  What was the thinking behind cutting all their funding?  Surely they were providing opera at a reasonable price "for the masses"?  

[Jan McNulty]

2 minutes ago, Fonty said:

So what will happen to ENO now?  Is that it for them?  I can't open some of the links as I am abroad.  What was the thinking behind cutting all their funding?  Surely they were providing opera at a reasonable price "for the masses"?  

 

Someone from ENO was interviewed briefly on the BBC news and said they will probably be based in Manchester but still be managing the Coli.  I bet Opera North are thrilled by that!

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

It seems to me that football teams that used to have money coming out of their ears have been sold to investors who promptly recover their money from the club they have bought leaving them not necessarily well off as you would imagine.

 

Yes, when an owner ‘leverages’ a huge loan to buy the club, then uses all the profits to pay off the loan, then sells the club at a profit having not benefitted the club much, that should be barred!

as for the millions clubs use to buy players, a paltry £350k to run a museum hardly covers a top players wages for a fortnight.

bah!

[Peanut68]

Illuminations…. Hmmm…. Guessing arts council funding will just go towards assisting huge increased electricity bills….

(surely it’s time to look at direct alternative energy source for these - harness sea & wind power?!) 

 

[Lizbie1]

Maybe the grant will help the illuminations to switch to more energy efficient displays? I've never seen them myself but many people evidently take a lot of pleasure from them and Blackpool is in dire need of some love and attention by all accounts.

 

I'm sad about ENO and wonder what will become of them, but they've been on borrowed time for a while now - even in their glory days attendance wasn't great and their finances were a mess! - and the level of subsidy per performance was getting ridiculous.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Lizbie1
wrong word

[alison]

4 hours ago, capybara said:

I guess they help the local economy in all kinds of ways and I CAN buy into that.

 

Of course, but to what extent does "helping the local economy" justify doling out money from a (relatively) small and notoriously underfunded pot?

[Lynette H]

The following dance companies appear to have lost their Arts Council funding completely, as far as I can see

 

Russell Maliphant

Mark Bruce Dance Company

Shobana Jayasingh

Michael Clark  (Trading as modern masterpieces)

 

There are others. I have the previously published Arts Council funding spreadsheet for 2018-22 if anyone wants it for comparison purposes, I can upload it here. 

 

Edit: If no funding is allocated where it had been previously, the organisation does not appear in the new spreadsheet at all.  You need to look in detail at the earlier funding spreadsheet to compare to work out what has vanished. 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Lynette H

[alison]

4 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Someone from ENO was interviewed briefly on the BBC news and said they will probably be based in Manchester but still be managing the Coli.  I bet Opera North are thrilled by that!

 

Yes, quite.  Far too close to ON, at least to be seen as "levelling up", which after all doesn't mean over-weighting the scales in the other direction.  That helps nobody.  Thinking about the situation, it could be quite bad for some of their employees.  What if you can't simply up sticks and move to Manchester (or wherever), but need to keep a base in London (perhaps because your other half's job requires them to stay down there or something)?  Rent somewhere in Manchester while continuing to pay the mortgage down south, and potentially with a huge hike in mortgage rates to contend with as well?  That would be a good way of haemorrhaging money.

 

9 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

Hmmmm…. And was ENB implicated in this too? Could the Coliseum become a true home to them or will it become more a concert & short run venue? 

 

What does happen to the Coli?  (Which I think the State effectively bought for ENO, didn't they?)  If this summer's My Fair Lady has been anything to go by, putting on musicals hasn't been a surefire seller.  You'd want to book in a guaranteed success - if there is such a thing these days - and in one of the largest theatres in London that might prove difficult.  And if you were looking long term, a guaranteed success wouldn't be happy about the prospect of having to evacuate the theatre for 6 weeks or so at the busiest time of year so ENB could come in and do their Christmas season.  Alternatively, of course, once you're in the unsubsidised theatre market you always run the risk of a show not being as popular as expected and closing early ...

 

I wonder what Ballet Black will do with their windfall?  Tour more?  Expand with a few more dancers?

[alison]

19 minutes ago, Lynette H said:

The following dance companies appear to have lost their Arts Council funding completely, as far as I can see

 

Russell Maliphant

Mark Bruce Dance Company

Shobana Jayasingh

Michael Clark  (Trading as modern masterpieces)

 

  Those are some of the country's best companies, I would have said.

[Lizbie1]

14 minutes ago, alison said:

What does happen to the Coli?

 

I'd like the Coli to host the regional opera and ballet companies for, say, a week each each season (by which I mean Autumn and Spring). ENB's December/January occupation would coexist very happily with that.

 

Londoners as a whole aren't used to travelling for their arts and it's a crying shame that few of them will see, for example, WNO's thrilling production of the Makropulos Case.

 

That won't keep it busy year round of course, but it's a start.

[LinMM]

That’s a huge shame about the Mark Bruce Company they aren’t even based in London but in Frome so not sure what the thinking is there. A company based out of London providing highly excellent and innovative work which seems to attract young people as well and links well with the local community having their Grant cut 🤔 Seems very odd to me as they seem the ideal organisation to support!! 

[alison]

Unfortunately, the only place I know that WNO tour to is Southampton, and they don't do matinees, which rules out any travelling for me  

 

I agree about hosting the regional and national companies, although if that were an option London could end up with a bit of an embarras de richesses - and we know that there are already times when competing dance companies end up vying for the dance audience there.  The scheduling might also end up hampering anyone wanting to bring in a long-term production.