Theatres face another funding crisis

Despite an extra £50m available for the arts, Arts Council England has announced funding proposals that could force many theatres to close.

Widespread anger has arisen in the theatre community over ACE's 2008-2011 funding proposals, which were released on 14 December and which see funding for theatres reduced as compared to other art organisations.

Of the 990 ACE-funded organisations, 195 (nearly 20%) will have their funds cut altogether, while others will find their budgets slashed. Incredibly, theatres have only been given a five-week window in which to make an appeal, with a cut-off date of 25 January.

Willy Donaghy, Supervisory Official for the Arts & Entertainment Division, said: "Most of this anger is due to the lack of transparency of process and the timescale theatres have been given to lodge an appeal. Information has been filtering through the press, but nothing has been made public. No information has been given on how thesse decisions have been taken and on what criteria."

He went on: "The Arts Council talks about judging organisations on 'excellence', but there's no clearly defined or understood definition of excellence. A government-commissioned report by Brian McMaster on this topic is due to be published tomorrow, so it's unclear why they didn't wait before completing the funding exercise."

One organisation under threat is the Northcott theatre in Exeter. BECTU has written to the chair of the South West Regional Arts Council asking it to reverse its decision to cut the theatre's £547,000 grant, which comes at the end of a costly refurbishment programme, part-funded by the Arts Council. Other institutions to face reduced funding are the Bristol Old Vic and Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster.

"We are dismayed that our members will suffer through no fault of their own," continued Donaghy. "If a theatre is not performing, then surely the answer is to replace the people at the top, not the workforce at the bottom."

His concerns were echoed at a heated question and answer session yesterday at the Young Vic theatre in London. ACE chief executive Peter Hewitt bravely faced a 500-strong audience comprising the best of British theatre, including Kevin Spacey, Sam West, Joanna Lumley, Sir Ian McKellen and Richard Digby Day.

An Equity spokesperson questioned the integrity of the appeals process and called for a thorough review of ACE's funding process, until which time, she said, the funding process should stop.

Sam West asked: "What are you to do if you are told in December that you'll not have funding in April? If you cut off smaller theatres you'll starve our national theatre to death." People need places to practice and become excellent, he said, referring to the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond, which has produced a raft of artistic directors as a result of its young directors' course. It was also aimed at Brian McMaster's report on the way 'excellence' is judged and consequent funding decisions are made.

An uncomfortable-looking Peter Hewitt answered some questions and not others, but defended his corner. He did, however, intimate that ACE was only told of it's own funding settlement in October, with theatres being told of their decisions in the space of just two months.

Arts organisations have until 25 January to appeal against the proposals. A final decision will be reach a few weeks later, with funding changes coming into force on 1 April.