The Stage

New English Contemporary Ballet funding cut ‘catastrophic’

Published Wednesday 3 December 2008 at 17:40 by Kevin Berry

New English Contemporary Ballet has been plunged into crisis by the decision of Arts Council England not to grant it funding under its Grants for the Arts scheme.

Niall McMahon, artistic director of the Nottingham- based company, told The Stage that the company will hopefully continue touring, but is now unable to stage any new work.

“We had got to the end of the 12-week period stipulated for the arts council to give a response and nothing had arrived,” he said. “I telephoned and they came back to me, on the phone, to advise me that our bid had been unsuccessful. A letter I have received on Tuesday states that we ‘did not fully meet the criteria for how the public will engage with the activity’. Considering the quality and nature of our outreach work, and our touring, that is laughable.

“We asked for £150,000 for 2009, which is something like one-sixth of the funding given to other touring dance companies of a similar size. Last year, we had £110,000 funding for our dance and educational provision. This year we’re getting nothing. It is catastrophic. If we don’t tour to larger venues, it undermines the company and everything we’ve done. The timing could not be worse”.

New English Contemporary Ballet is three years old and receives support from Nottingham City Council. It also has a dance school, which expects to have 100 full-time students by next year

A spokesperson for ACE, East Midlands commented: “Grants for the Arts is a competitive process and not all applications are successful.

“New English Contemporary Ballet has received Grants for the Arts funding from Arts Council England on four occasions, totalling £139,500 between 2006-8.”

Peter Knott, ACE director of arts and development, added: “We recognise that a rejection is disappointing news, but we do offer feedback to all applicants and New English Contemporary Ballet may decide to reapply in the future.”