Arts Council England cuts could hit Midlands

Birmingham MPs want to meet the Arts Council, after it was announced its grant would cut by another five per cent

Birmingham Rep and Birmingham Royal Ballet are facing significant grant cuts — Birmingham Rep and Birmingham Royal Ballet are facing significant funding cuts

Arts organisations across the city are facing dramatic funding cuts which could hit the huge contribution they make to the region’s culture and economy.

Birmingham’s ten MPs are now set to have an urgent meeting with the chairman of the Arts Council, the body which funds theatres, orchestras and dance companies, after Ministers announced its grant would cut by another five per cent – on top of a 30 per cent cut imposed since 2010.

At the same time, Birmingham City Council has warned arts bodies that the funding they receive from the local authority could fall by up to 19 per cent. The decision will be confirmed later this year.

MPs are demanding the Arts Council recognises the importance of arts and culture to the region’s economy, and the contribution the West Midlands makes to the cultural life of the entire nation.

They also want the London-based body to consider whether its headquarters should be moved to another major city such as Birmingham. But the city’s leading arts organisations are also working together to try to find new ways of raising money.

Stuart Rogers, executive director of Birmingham REP theatre, said: “Cuts of that magnitude are pretty hard for an organisation to bear without significantly reducing the amount of work it does. That’s the issue we are all wrestling with.”

Arts Council England saw its funding drop from £452 million to £350 million, a cut of almost 30 per cent, between 2011 and 2015.

This led to cuts in grants awarded to major cultural bodies. Examples include the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, which suffered a 15 per cent cut in arts council funding.

But as the body prepares to invite bids for funding between 2015 and 2018, ministers have announced it is to have its budget cut by a further five per cent.

City MPs wrote to Arts Council chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette, after they met representatives of leading Midland arts organisations at Whitehall.

They challenged the priority given to London, which receives £173 million a year from the Arts Council – 49 per cent of all the money allocated.

Figures show that the West Midlands, which receives £47.9 million a year in funding, is already more successful in attracting grants than other regions outside the capital, but MPs stressed that the funding should be protected, not least because it includes support for some major national institutions.

The Royal Shakespeare Company receives £16 million in 2013-14, Birmingham Royal Ballet receives £7.4 million and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra receives £2.2 million.

In their letter to Sir Peter, the MPs said: “The wider creative industries sector is of critical importance to the city whilst the arts play a very significant role in promoting the city region’s reputation and growing its visitor economy.

“We want to ensure that remaining public funds are aligned as much as possible so that Birmingham can maintain its high quality cultural offer, based on a unique infrastructure, and the sector can continue to contribute to the much-needed economic recovery of the city region.”

They also raised concerns about the way the Arts Council and Birmingham City Council awarded grants at different times.

The council is currently considering applications for funding for 2014 to 2016, while the Arts Council is about to open bidding for funding for the period between 2015 and 2018.

The city’s arts organisations are working together through a body called Birmingham Arts Partnership to try to find ways of coping with the cuts, which could include saving money by sharing back office functions and raising more cash from other sources.

Currently, funding from businesses and private individuals is concentrated almost entirely in the capital.

London arts organisations received £335 million in donations from individuals in 2011-12, while those in the East and West Midlands combined received £6.1 million. And businesses invested £77.1 million in the arts in London, compared to £4.9 million across the Midlands.

Mr Rogers said: “As arts organisations we instinctively want to do more and more and we don’t want to reduce the quality or breadth of work we offer to the city. The bit of good news on the Birmingham front is that we are working together actively to try to find a way of offsetting the effect of these cuts by working together in the future, and raising funding from other sources.”

The REP theatre has returned to its home in Birmingham’s Centenary square after a major refurbishmentand will re-open in September.

Mr Rogers said the theatre also carried out educational and community work which was not so visible.

Catherine Mallyon, executive director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said: “The Midlands has fantastic arts and culture, drawing audiences from all over the world, and the RSC will be working alongside many other Midlands arts organisations to make a strong case for continued Arts Council investment in the region, as applications open early next year for funding from 2015 onwards.”

A spokesman for Birmingham City Council said: “Arts have to share the burden in these difficult times but a vibrant cultural scene is vital to our priorities of attracting investment and visitors.

“While we have to implement a reduction which was planned in 2011, we are still offering significant levels of support to the sector. We recently wrote to arts organisations to invite them to apply for funding and advised them of planning figures which are roughly 19 per cent less than their current grants.

“However, the individual reductions will vary and we will assess each organisation’s contribution to the cultural strategy for the city.”

Alan Davey, chief executive of Arts Council England, said: “There will be an impact from our reduced investment – some organisations will lose funding – but we are confident that we can preserve a strong ecology for the arts and culture across England.

“There is no benefit in ‘salami-slicing’ and spreading the funds too thinly to make a substantial difference to anyone.”

An Arts Council spokesman added: “Sir Peter Bazalgette has received and replied to a letter sent to him by a number of Birmingham MPs about arts funding in Birmingham and the West Midlands. A meeting is currently being arranged.”

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