BAC funding cuts will prove ‘disastrous’ for the arts, warn industry heavyweights

Published Tuesday 23 January 2007 at 15:00 by Nuala Calvi

Leading industry figures have accused Wandsworth Borough Council of “vandalism” after it announced plans to effectively cut Battersea Arts Centre’s funding by 30%, making the venue’s closure inevitable.

National Theatre artistic director Nicholas Hytner, Shakespeare’s Globe artistic director Dominic Dromgoole, Young Vic artistic director David Lan, South Bank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly and Sadler’s Wells chief executive Alistair Spalding are among those warning that the loss of the south London venue would be catastrophic for the development of new theatre artists in the UK.

Practitioners who started their careers at BAC include French and Saunders, Cheek By Jowl, Complicite, Shared Experience, the League of Gentlemen, 7:84, Paul Merton and DV8 and the venue’s “ladder of development” system has produced hit shows such as Jerry Springer - the Opera.

Hytner described BAC as a “vital creative well-spring” whose loss would leave theatres such as the NT starved of fresh talent, while Spalding called it a “creative powerhouse” which had enormously influenced the UK’s theatre scene over the last 20 years.

Lan added: “To attack BAC is vandalism. It is unique throughout the world and one of the treasures of London. Without it, art in Britain is immediately impoverished.”

Wandsworth council this week admitted the venue was partly a victim of its own success and claimed it should no longer be subsidising a theatre so heavily whose majority of audiences came from outside the borough.

Head of public affairs Steve Mayner said: “The council is £5 million adrift this year in its government grant because [the grant] is not keeping pace with inflation. We have to make long-term savings and look at our core services such as children’s and social services - in this analysis, arts and culture services don’t come at the top. None of this is any criticism at all of the arts centre but we’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”

The authority plans to cut BAC’s £100,000 annual grant completely in April and begin charging the organisation more than £270,000 rent and running costs from May.

BAC’s artistic director, David Jubb, told The Stage: “They’d said they wanted to find an agreement that ensured BAC’s viability. Clearly a rent of £270,000 would not make us viable.

“There’s a great danger that, in finding a short-term saving, Wandsworth will become a much poorer place to live.”

Nick Hytner, artistic director, National Theatre: “BAC is the vital adventurous creative well-spring of so much that is exciting about the theatre. Quite apart from its excellence as a venue and its hospitable flexibility, it has in recent years provided a whole generation of theatre makers without whom more established venues like the National would quickly atrophy. Its loss would be a crushing blow.”

Jude Kelly, artistic director, South Bank Centre and founding director of BAC: “BAC is inseparable from its community. The artists need the community and the community needs the art. It’s not just about the economic impact or the access to entertainment and recreation - both of which are vitally important of course. It’s about having a building where it is possible to go in with a spirit of uncertainty and leave feeling more optimistic about the human race.”

Alistair Spalding, chief executive, Sadler’s Wells: The whole theatre scene in the UK has been enormously influenced by the work that has gone on at BAC over the last 20 years. Some of it is high profile but much more is in a quiet but consistent way noticed only by its local community. It would be disastrous if this creative powerhouse was lost.

Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director, Shakespeare’s Globe: BAC has become a vital ingredient in the soup of our theatre. It has remorselessly held steady the two tent poles of the new theatre, collaboration and imagination.

David Lan, artistic director, Young Vic: To attack BAC is vandalism. It is unique throughout the world and one of the treasures of London. Without it, art in Britain is immediately impoverished.

Ian Rickson, director: “BAC is a unique theatre with a wonderful, eclectic identity. It has provided support and space for a whole range of innovative artists who have been able to develop and breathe there. It was an invaluable place for me early on in my career, where I ran writers’ workshops, did a youth theatre show and finally my professional debut.”

David Farr, artistic director, Lyric Hammersmith: “BAC is the roots of British theatre. Without it, theatres such as mine will be starved of a whole generation of theatre makers. One of Britain’s most innovative and entrepreneurial engine rooms is at risk. The effects will be felt locally and nationally.”

David Pugh, commercial producer: “BAC is invaluable to Wandsworth and the West End. How many more successful years does it have to run to prove this?”

Katie Mitchell, director: “Our culture would be seriously impoverished without BAC - a whole generation of young theatre makers would be left homeless.”

Graham Whybrow, literary manager, Royal Court: “BAC is adventurous, playful, fun. That’s why talent starts there. That’s why we go back. It’s indispensable.”

Emma Rice, artistic director, Kneehigh Theatre: “BAC is not about the comfort zone, it is about taking risks, making connections and building the foundations for profound relationships between theatre makers, audiences and the wider community. It is unique, it is vital and it is a privilege to be connected to such a ground-breaking organisation.”

Toby Jones, actor: “Most of my artistic collaborations have begun by strolling into that bar on Lavender Hill, not on Sunset Boulevard.”