Addressing criticism of the latest funding round from Arts Council England, the organisations CEO, Darren Henley, spoke at The Stage’s Future of Theatre conference. In the speech he argued that ‘in the noise about the popular and unpopular specific decisions, the bigger picture can become overshadowed.’
He continues: ‘It’s of course right that the Arts Council is held to account, and it’s inevitable that what we don’t fund attracts more scrutiny that what we do, but if we reduce the overall picture to focus only on a few organisations, if we make that debate ‘either/or’ about access or excellence as if they exist only in opposition, if we start to argue for one art form at the expense of another, then there’s a danger that our perspective becomes too narrow and too short term, focusing on individual elements, but failing to see the big picture.’
However, Henley said he did not want to minimise the ‘shock and uncertainty’ faced by organisations that have lost their NPO funding, such as the Oldham Coliseum.
This speech follows the news that 141 organisations were to be dropped from ACE’s portfolio as it shifts towards funding non-London based organisations. Some members of the arts sector were outraged by the funding decisions, with high profile cases including the removal of funding from the English National Opera. On this, cross-party MPs claimed the removal of ENO funding ‘undermined and discredited’ the government’s policy to promote the arts across the UK.
Henley acknowledges that the organisation wishes to ‘take the pressure’ off organisations in the new national portfolio, but that they may have to take fewer risks due to the challenging financial landscape, and that he is aware that organisations may feel that ‘the investment [ACE] provides won’t necessarily go as far as [they had] hoped.’
He added: ‘We want to reassure NPOs that your focus should be on doing as much as you can in the circumstances – and on doing it really well.’
The speech also revealed that Arts Council England is launching a new round of its Capital Investment Programme, which will have a total budget of £20 million for this coming financial year to provide grants of up to £750,000 to help organisations operate safely in the wake of the pandemic.