Inflation was ‘very least’ needed to sustain arts, warns WYP artistic director

Published Thursday 11 October 2007 at 12:55 by Lalayn Baluch

West Yorkshire Playhouse’s artistic director Ian Brown has given a “cautious welcome” to the inflation settlement awarded to the culture sector in the spending review, warning that the Olympics is still a looming threat to the arts.

Brown said that the settlement was the “very least” the government could do if it took the arts seriously. He added that anything less would have undone work over the past few years to strengthen the industry and would have led to the closure of theatres.

Brown told The Stage: “The danger looming is that the Olympics might start gobbling up stuff, and I don’t think we can afford it from our budgets - I think they’ve had enough now, both grass roots sports and arts have really suffered.

“I think how the Olympics gets paid for is still a big question. I’ve never known a public project remain on its budget, that never seems to happen, so I’d be amazed if it came in at anywhere near the figures they are talking about. If they were so desperate for extra cash that they took it from the arts and grass routes sports, it’s quite worrying where they might raid next.”

The artistic director also said that the arts require confidence and energy, such as that inspired by the Boyden Review, rather than “constant penny-pinching and constant anxiety about whether or not we’re going to be in business in three years’ time.”

Arts Council England is now awaiting details of the settlement before they can set a budget and allocate funding to arts organisations.

He added: “I would be loath to see anymore theatres closing. I think we’ve got quite a delicate infrastructure at the moment. I think the demise of Bristol [Old Vic] showed us that we are all part of a national pattern now.

“We work together a lot, pool our resources for certain projects - we are not working in isolation anymore in a way that maybe ten or 20 years ago was probably the case. I think to lose anymore theatres could be quite serious in terms of all of us.”