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Red Shift rejects ‘ruthless’ ACE’s funding

Published Wednesday 19 September 2007 at 15:20 by Lalayn Baluch

Leading UK touring company Red Shift has taken the unusual step of voluntarily withdrawing from its regular funding arrangement with Arts Council England, accusing the organisation of abandoning professional artists in favour of political agendas.

Artistic director Jonathan Holloway, who founded the group 25 years ago, has announced that he will not be continuing his partnership with ACE after his autumn production of Much Ado About Nothing comes to an end in March 2008.

Holloway told The Stage: “I don’t like the fact it [ACE] has turned into an organisation that is twisting people’s arms, so if they want to earn a living they need to make work that fits the arts council’s strategic agenda.”

He has accused ACE of becoming authoritarian and “ruthless” in its internal decision making by shutting arts practitioners out of funding discussions, and says it is ignoring its founding principle of giving public money to professional companies.

According to Holloway, his rejection of financial support has also stemmed from his belief that companies which follow ACE’s agenda of community work will be favoured when funding for next year is decided, following the Comprehensive Spending Review.

Red Shift visits more than 50 small and medium scale venues each year, and ACE currently gives £170,000 annually to support its programme. The touring work will come to an end once the money stops, although Holloway is adamant the company will continue - and he is now looking into setting up co-productions with venues around the country.

An ACE spokeswoman said: “It’s unusual for organisations to opt out of regular funding, as the vast majority feel they benefit considerably from a three-year funding agreement and ongoing relationship with us.

“There are, however, occasional instances where organisations feel the assessment and reporting processes we are required to apply are not appropriate to the scale or nature of their work, and that applying for project funding through our Grants for the Arts programme is a more manageable option.”

She added that a single and consistent assessment and monitoring process was being used across the organisation, and Red Shift had received inflationary increases in funding since 2005. She said Red Shift was still welcome to apply for ACE financial support for one-off productions and national tours in the future.

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