Glenda Jackson hits out at funding threat

Published Wednesday 4 April 2007 at 16:05 by Nuala Calvi

Labour MP and Oscar-winning former actress Glenda Jackson has broken rank to criticise the “entirely shocking and utterly disgraceful” plight of theatre funding in the UK, in the light of signals from government that the arts should be prepared for subsidy cuts.

Moved to lead a debate on the issue in the House of Commons for the first time since leaving acting for politics in the early nineties, Jackson said it was appalling that the country that gave birth to Shakespeare had still not accepted the basic principle of state funding for the arts.

Speaking as Gordon Brown decides his priorities in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review, Jackson said: “We should not have to make the same old argument every decade or so that [theatre] must be invested in by the state.

“I hope that the government, to whom I pay full credit for what they have done in the past, will think about the minute amount of money that is required to maintain British theatre in its excellent state and to give it possibilities of expansion.

“I understand that the amount is as minuscule as £3.5 million a year. To go from the sublime to the ridiculous, and having mentioned Shakespeare, that is surely a mere spit in the ocean.”

Her comments come as Arts Council England announces a 35% cut in the money available through its Grants for the Arts programme, as a result of Lottery money being diverted to the 2012 Olympics.

Culture minister David Lammy, speaking at the Commons debate, said the Games were “exactly the sort of one-off national event that the lottery was intended to support”, and added the government was proud of its record of having doubled arts spending since 1997.

However, the news of a reduction by £29 million in the grants programme - down to £54 million - was met with dismay by the industry this week.

Independent Theatre Council chief executive Charlotte Jones said: “National touring, new writing, research and development, new projects and new talent all rely heavily on this fund. “It is unacceptable that it should be reliant solely on Lottery money and that this pot should be raided so damagingly by the Olympics.”

The cut, which has come into force without any warning, follows the announcement by culture secretary Tessa Jowell last month that £112.5 million would be siphoned off from ACE to the Olympics, more than doubling the amount the organisation had expected to lose.

Meanwhile, ACE has also said the eligibility criteria for Grants for the Arts will be tightened up from this month, with a £200,000 cap on awards, and money being limited to projects lasting 12 months or less.

Robert Noble, co-director of award-winning choreographer Matthew Bourne’s company New Adventures, said that this would have a “devastating” effect on large-scale touring productions, particularly dance.

“If they had put a £200,000 cap on our grants in the past, then shows like Edward Scissorhands would certainly never have happened,” he said.

An ACE spokeswoman insisted the majority of applications fell within the limitations already. She added: “It’s a difficult time, and we’ve got to be sensible and even-handed. There’s less money available, but £54 million is still a substantial amount being awarded.”