The Stage

Theatres Trust and Bectu join protest against ACE funding cuts

Published Friday 11 January 2008 at 16:20 by Lalayn Baluch

Technical union Bectu and conservation body the Theatres Trust have joined those publicly criticising the recent Arts Council England funding announcements, warning it will lead to the closure of venues around the country.

The comments follow a “vote of no confidence” delivered to ACE, and passed unanimously by nearly 500 theatre practitioners, at an emergency meeting organised by Equity in the wake of the latest spending review, which has resulted in almost 200 arts organisations facing funding cuts.

Bectu official Willy Donaghy 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 these decisions have been taken and on what criteria.

“The arts council talks about judging organisations on ‘excellence’, but there’s no clearly defined or understood definition of excellence.”

Donaghy also questioned why ACE’s spending announcements were made prior to the release of Brian McMaster’s government-commissioned report, investigating excellence in the arts, which was published yesterday.

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

Meanwhile, Theatres Trust director Mhora Samuel has warned that venues around the country could go dark, with some areas left without theatre provision. She also called on ACE to consider the impact closures would have on local communities before reaching final conclusions.

The organisation has estimated, based on venues known to be campaigning against their funding recommendations, that more than 5,000 seats would be lost, resulting in 400,000 fewer people being able to attend theatre performances annually.

Samuel added: “This would have a devastating impact on achieving the recommendations in Sir Brian McMaster’s report Supporting Excellence in the Arts. If theatres have to close, existing audiences will no longer have access to theatre, and aspirations to ‘encourage wider and deeper engagement’ will be impossible when towns and cities have no venues or theatres where work, considered to be of strategic importance to the funding bodies, can be presented.”