ARTS COUNCIL FUNDING FROM APRIL 2023

[Peanut68]

The whole moving things out of London to level up often seems so unthought out to me….& why is the assumption of not in London, then it’s Birmingham or Manchester?

How about championing other cities? Newcastle….Nottingham….

Or dare I even suggest a southern location? Levelling up financially & culturally is not limited to London v the North!

So what about Exeter or Truro or Bournemouth or Brighton to become home to a supported national cultural organisation such as ENO…?

[Peanut68]

I suppose perhaps I should add Blackpool to the list…. Ok, so tongue in cheek & perhaps bad time for jesting but if did occur to me that perhaps ENO could utilise shared lighting for open air performances???? !

[Peanut68]

I don’t pretend to be knowledgable in any way on this subject but the standout large sums for ROH & RSC seem to be rather flag waving for old order tradition & ‘establishment’….

Also, don’t the RSC have very healthy incomes from their more commercial project links (Matilda springs to mind….)? 
And is that a model other organisations could & should bear in mind:- that if you produce some audience pleasing & thus high ticket sales shows, it will help ‘prop’ up the new, the experimental, the historical, the ‘worthy’? 
Can’t help but think ROH could actually put on more productions & what about national & international tours by their dancers & opera singers & orchestras in smaller scale productions/recitals? I reckon not only would this be a fairer share of culture but also would self fund if programmes were what audiences want to see & will be happy to pay for…

[Pas de Quatre]

We already have Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in South West, so I doubt they would send ENO!

[Lizbie1]

6 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

I don’t pretend to be knowledgable in any way on this subject but the standout large sums for ROH & RSC seem to be rather flag waving for old order tradition & ‘establishment’….

 

I always think that the ROH suffers when these announcements are made because it's effectively three organisations: RO, RB and the ROH itself. Divide its grant by three and it looks a lot less conspicuous.

 

The one I can never get my head around is the very large grant for the South Bank Centre: given the amount it must get in rent for all those restaurants, where on earth is all that money going?

[Lizbie1]

7 hours ago, alison said:

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  

 

What they actually bring varies, but they come to Birmingham, Bristol and Oxford as well - though the substantial cut in their ACE grant indicates that some of their English dates will be going.

[Guest oncnp]

ROH already headed to the provinces (and yes, this had to have been planned ages ago....)

 

From ROH Facebook

 

Get ready to enjoy the best of the Royal Opera House in Manchester!

On 5 November, visit Manchester Arndale Centre from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and join our free pop-up screening, with popcorn included!

Discover a diverse range of productions and lose yourself in extraordinary new worlds with our range of incredible ballet and opera performances.

Enjoy extracts from:

- Swan Lake: the greatest romantic ballet of all time

- La Traviata: the heart-breaking story of Violetta, a courtesan who sacrifices all for love

- Nutcracker: a delightful Christmas Eve party that becomes a magical adventure

- Tosca: a sweeping operatic thriller that combines romance, revolution, and a devastating twist

- Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare’s story of passion, tragedy and star-crossed lovers

- Rigoletto: power against innocence, beauty against ugliness, in a pitiless world of luxurious decadence, corruption and social decay

The best of the Royal Opera House in Manchester. Discover new worlds and take home a Royal Opera House postcard with a special offer to plan your next visit! 

See less

[Jan McNulty]

9 hours 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)

 

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. 

 

 

 

The disappearance of those companies from the NPO List is as devastating as when Richard Alston's company lost its funding last time around.

 

IIRC didn't Shobana Jayasingh's company get a massive funding increase last time around?

 

Of course, being included as an NPO is incredibly important for companies but project funding is presumably still available to be applied for so it may not be the end for these companies (fingers crossed).

[zxDaveM]

15 hours ago, capybara said:

But in the context of an energy crisis?

 

to replace the old light fittings with energy efficient ones, and a general revamp to the spectacle.

Would be my guess

[zxDaveM]

I often worry that in trying to redistibute 'arts' around the country (not a bad aim as such), the effort (and money) becomes diluted to the point of ruining what made them attractive in the first place. Perhaps creating/funding new things outside London, and making them attractive enough for people to want to travel there (as people have to travel to London at the moment) could be a better way forward

[Pas de Quatre]

It seems that when a small dance company has been successful over the years and built up a following, then ACE decides they have had enough time to sort out their own finances and so withdraws funding to allocate it to newer companies. Protein is another that has lost funding.

 

Does anyone remember the doom and gloom when Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet was forced to go to Birminham? It was probably the best thing that could have happened to them. They have become a distinctive major company in their own right, rather than being in the shadow of Covent Garden!

[Jan McNulty]

17 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

It seems that when a small dance company has been successful over the years and built up a following, then ACE decides they have had enough time to sort out their own finances and so withdraws funding to allocate it to newer companies. Protein is another that has lost funding.

 

Does anyone remember the doom and gloom when Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet was forced to go to Birminham? It was probably the best thing that could have happened to them. They have become a distinctive major company in their own right, rather than being in the shadow of Covent Garden!

 

I didn't realise SWRB were forced to go to Birmingham, I was under the impression that Birmingham City Council made them an offer they would have been misguided to refuse.

 

Northern Ballet was a similar story - Manchester CC was going to remove their grant and Halifax/Calderdale made them an offer and then a few years later Leeds made them an offer and the rest is history...

[Pas de Quatre]

It is so long ago it is difficult to remember exact details Janet, but I am pretty sure SWRB were told they would no longer get funding in London. 

[Jan McNulty]

24 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

It is so long ago it is difficult to remember exact details Janet, but I am pretty sure SWRB were told they would no longer get funding in London. 

 

If that is the case, who told them???  At the time SWRB was an intrinsic part of the ROH stable so was it the ROH rather than whatever iteration of the Arts Council it was at the time?

 

BRB continued to come under the umbrella of ROH for some years after the move to Birmingham (and yes Birmingham did make them a wonderful offer) and many people were relieved when they finally broke free as a separate entity (although they still have the same board of governors).

[capybara]

The ‘powers that be’ in Birmingham were so entranced by the Bolshoi visit in 1989 that they decided they wanted their own Company. (I actually overheard conversations about this during the Bolshoi performances.)

[Pas de Quatre]

BRB's own website says the invitation to relocate was issued by Birmingham City Council and The Hippodrome in 1987. There may have been all sorts of negotiations between the interested parties.

[capybara]

33 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

BRB's own website says the invitation to relocate was issued by Birmingham City Council and The Hippodrome in 1987. There may have been all sorts of negotiations between the interested parties.

So the conversations I heard were about a ‘done deal’ !!!!!!

[Fonty]

3 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

It is so long ago it is difficult to remember exact details Janet, but I am pretty sure SWRB were told they would no longer get funding in London. 

I have a very vague memory about some discussion that said the RB touring company (as I always used to think of it) would cease to get funding if it didn't spend more time further away from the SE of England.  On the grounds that everyone could go to the ROH if they wanted to see ballet.  

 

Some argument like that, anyway. 

[Jan McNulty]

1 minute ago, Fonty said:

I have a very vague memory about some discussion that said the RB touring company (as I always used to think of it) would cease to get funding if it didn't spend more time further away from the SE of England.  On the grounds that everyone could go to the ROH if they wanted to see ballet.  

 

Some argument like that, anyway. 

 

Which is really bizarre given that I had seen the company not only in London but Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Birmingham and I am sure they went to Sunderland and Plym too as well as possibly Bristol.  After The Lowry opened in 2000 and the Arts Council defined the country by areas BRB were "reduced to" The North East (Sunderland) and the South West (Plym) as well as The Lowry and, of course, Birmingham.

 

The most outrageous proposal, in terms of ballet,  put forward by the Arts Council (in its then iteration) was in the late 1980s when they proposed to cut Northern Ballet's grant completely and give it to London City Ballet!  It's not that I didn't think LCB was unworthy of funding but that company was based in London and NB (at the time) was based in Manchester!

 

[Fonty]

As well as larger cities they also went to the suburbs.  For example, they came to Sutton (Surrey) on a regular basis.  That's how I became a ballet fan.  My parents would never have thought  about taking a small child to London, but a 3 mile trip was perfect for a family outing.

[LinMM]

Did SWRB really live in the shadow of the main Company though? I saw them long before I became a regular at the ROH. I knew the dancers names of SWRB much better for quite a few years after I first saw them in Oxford as a student. I’m pretty sure I saw them in Liverpool as well. Many popular dancers were with SWRB. I definitely didn’t see them as inferior! 
Until I was about 24 I mainly saw them or London Festival Ballet as was then called who also toured. 

[Peanut68]

6 hours ago, oncnp said:

ROH already headed to the provinces (and yes, this had to have been planned ages ago....)

 

From ROH Facebook

 

Get ready to enjoy the best of the Royal Opera House in Manchester!

On 5 November, visit Manchester Arndale Centre from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and join our free pop-up screening, with popcorn included!

Discover a diverse range of productions and lose yourself in extraordinary new worlds with our range of incredible ballet and opera performances.

Enjoy extracts from:

- Swan Lake: the greatest romantic ballet of all time

- La Traviata: the heart-breaking story of Violetta, a courtesan who sacrifices all for love

- Nutcracker: a delightful Christmas Eve party that becomes a magical adventure

- Tosca: a sweeping operatic thriller that combines romance, revolution, and a devastating twist

- Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare’s story of passion, tragedy and star-crossed lovers

- Rigoletto: power against innocence, beauty against ugliness, in a pitiless world of luxurious decadence, corruption and social decay

The best of the Royal Opera House in Manchester. Discover new worlds and take home a Royal Opera House postcard with a special offer to plan your next visit! 

See less

It says screening? So no ‘in person’ element? 

[Peanut68]

8 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

We already have Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in South West, so I doubt they would send ENO!

That does make me think

though that it does add weight to the SW needing its own Opera & Dance companies to complement this orchestra! ??

Edited November 5, 2022 by Peanut68

[Ian Macmillan]

Re some of the above, the Royal Ballet Touring Company's remit ranged well beyond the south east of England.  My wife, one of its dancers from 1958 to 1964, travelled to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and extensively on the Continent.  It's all laid out in an Annex to Alexander Bland's "The Royal Ballet, The first 50 years."  

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Did SWRB really live in the shadow of the main Company though? I saw them long before I became a regular at the ROH. I knew the dancers names of SWRB much better for quite a few years after I first saw them in Oxford as a student. I’m pretty sure I saw them in Liverpool as well. Many popular dancers were with SWRB. I definitely didn’t see them as inferior! 
Until I was about 24 I mainly saw them or London Festival Ballet as was then called who also toured. 

 

I wouldn't have described them as "being in the shadow"  or (to my way of thinking) "inferior" but some dancers who were apparently not considered ready for the main company were placed there first and then transferred over.

 

They were, however, an integrated part of the ROH management structure.  From what my late friend told me the company remit was changed several times including a while as an experimental-mostly-new-works-company and was also known as the new group and the touring group.  They were well established with SPW in charge when I first (knowingly) saw them in 1984.  Yes, they did used to come to Liverpool on a regular basis along with LFB.  Although ENB still come to Liverpool, BRB along with Rambert were "persuaded" to go to The Lowry when that NPO venue opened in 2000.

[Ian Macmillan]

Royal Opera House, Annual Report 1959-60, page 9:

 

"The policy, begun two years ago, of one Royal Ballet that can be divided for touring purposes was fully implemented during the summer season that opened on 17th August, when the whole company appeared at the Royal Opera House.  The degree of the integration achieved already was apparent in a number of performances of Swan Lake, in which the the two corps de ballets were blended and the principals from both sections took over the leading roles. ....... There can be no doubt either of the logic or the benefit to be derived from such integration, though it still presents problems of nomenclature."  

 

If not from the pen of Madame De Valois herself, we may reasonably be certain that the views expressed were hers and I see no sign of shadows. 

[Fonty]

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I wouldn't have described them as "being in the shadow"  or (to my way of thinking) "inferior" but some dancers who were apparently not considered ready for the main company were placed there first and then transferred over.

 

 

 

As they still do now with BRB?  Didn't Darcey Bussell start her professional career with them?

[capybara]

With Bussell, I don’t think it was so much that she wasn’t ‘ready’ for the RB but that she was already at soloist level and enabling her to flourish according to her ability was more easily accommodated at SWRB.

[Jan McNulty]

15 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

As they still do now with BRB?  Didn't Darcey Bussell start her professional career with them?

 

When Darcey Bussell moved over the companies were still tied together.

 

I think when people have moved more recently it has been more like moving from one company to another.

[postie]

18 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

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.

 

I did the backstage tour at the Coli before Covid. I didn't know there is pretty well zero space either at the sides or back of the stage - go past the back of the stage area and you are pretty much straight in Bedfordbury (the street behind).

 

Couldn't be a greater contrast with the ROH which basically has an aircraft hanger's worth of backstage space.

 

When they are rehearsing a new production, the staging/scenery is kept in removal lorries which are parked outside at the back (next to the Lemon Tree pub). After each performance, they swap the current with the rehearsal, and then swap it all back again before the next performance.

 

I suppose they are used to it though from the outside it looks like a daily miracle. Have no idea how ENB cope with all their performers!

 

Central London is crying out for theatrical space and this is 2,350 seats. It will, at least, provide a source of funding for ENO going forward. What a beautiful building.

Edited November 5, 2022 by postie
so numerous as to be embarrassing

[Jan McNulty]

1 minute ago, postie said:

 

 

Central London is crying out for theatrical space and this is 2,350 seats. It will, at least, provide a source of funding for ENO going forward. What a beautiful building.

 

It's a Frank Matcham original.  He designed Buxton Opera House as a practise for the Coli (it's tiny compared to the Coli).

[Emeralds]

22 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

It is so long ago it is difficult to remember exact details Janet, but I am pretty sure SWRB were told they would no longer get funding in London. 

I think it was both, Pas de Quatre. I don’t think Birmingham had been considered a likely candidate before the announcement, and many people had considered that SWRB would continue being the touring “branch” of the big Royal Ballet in the plush West End (albeit a branch with outstanding talents and a wonderful repertoire) but Birmingham Council offered to pick up the tab for a lot of the costs of new, larger premises and moving, so Ninette de Valois, Peter Wright and the board accepted. After the move, it looked a bit like BRB/SWRB had done better than RB, who (before the ROH National Lottery-funded renovation) then still had old fashioned and cramped backstage areas and rehearsal spaces  (then based in Talgarth Road near Barons Court, West London).

 

A demonstration of this was that when Peter Wright made his BRB production of The Nutcracker for Birmingham, it was technologically more advanced (in terms of the tree and snow effects) and more glamorous and magical looking than the RB one (also his!) at the time....after seeing it, I stopped watching the RB one for several years as it just made me feel I would rather be in Birmingham watching BRB’s instead. (Of course, his production has now being significantly altered to utilise the extra space and new stage equipment and technology available and both are now equally stunning.)

 

The move had also coincided with Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra beginning to acquire an international reputation as a powerhouse combination in the symphony orchestra world (CBSO had always had a respected and solid reputation before but was now catapulted to A list fame) and the building of the world class Symphony Hall (still the best concert hall in the U.K.- and I say this having previously been next door neighbours and subscriber of Barbican Centre and a frequent user of Royal Festival Hall) led to lots more visitor traffic and tourist numbers and revenue going to Birmingham- so the Council decisions and investment definitely paid off. 

[Emeralds]

On 04/11/2022 at 23:48, Lizbie1 said:

 

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.

I’ve heard from some opera-goers and theatregoers based not in the southeast but the Midlands who are just as far away from London as they are from  Manchester and they would rather travel to London for the arts than Manchester/Newcastle/Leeds - the reason is that train connections to London are frequent, generally reliable and fast; the latter are not. I have travelled to Wales several times for arts and sport and the rail service is dire- once it nearly left us stranded in Cardiff. Am sure keen fans will travel for a production they care a lot about, just like I once travelled to Edinburgh just to see San Francisco Ballet and to Southampton to see BRB, but if the rail connections don’t work and they don’t have the time, money or both to pay for two nights at a hotel, they’re not going to visit an opera company far away no matter how good it is. Actually, it is more convenient and faster for me to go to Paris (via Eurostar)  than to Cardiff or Manchester! (More expensive but sometimes time is the sticking point rather than price.) 

 

What is bizarre about the Culture Secretary and Arts Council (who have stated that they were forced by the Culture Secretary  to make the cuts to London luminaries like ENO, Donmar Warehouse, Michael Clarke etc) decision is that when Royal Opera and ENO are both performing, with a London and Home Counties population of 16 million and tourist numbers of 21 million a year pre pandemic and 4 million last year post pandemic, the opera tickets often cannot sell out the way ballet companies do, unless there are expensive big stars like Jonas Kaufmann and Joyce Di Donato performing (although ENO did have a sold out last show of Tosca without expensive big stars). ENO provides free tickets to under 21s, making it affordable to families and students, and has long had initiatives and outreach activities to the community, and a diverse audience and casting. So it does seem curious that ENO got the 100% chop while RO only got 9%- was it because RO are protected by being part of ROH and bailed out by RB’s sold out shows of Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Romeo & Juliet but ENO is not?

 

With other cities and regions having populations of less than 2 million each, and less a quarter of the tourist traffic that London gets, I wonder how the Arts Council think the North West (or indeed any other region that they expect ENO to move to) is going to support two opera companies while London is forced to have only one. Even if every single adult in the North West went to every single opera in every season, there wouldn’t be enough people to fill all the seats of two opera companies. It sounds like the Arts Council and Ms Dorries expect ENO to either close completely (an insult to the company and to Lilian Baylis, who helped kickstart the formation of a national opera company rather than relying on ad hoc impresarios in the West End) or to find itself a posh country house and donor/sponsor like the  Glyndebourne and Garsington companies to get funds. 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Emeralds