Arts funding

Cuts to a wide range of services across Birmingham including arts and culture are based on "imagined data", it has been claimed.

The Guardian reports that sources inside the Labour-led council said the local authority’s finances were in disarray as a result of a faulty IT system rollout and a £760m equal pay liability bill, which led it to effectively declare bankruptcy, could be hugely overstated.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Paul Tilsley said: “The figure of £760m is a figment of someone’s imagination, in my opinion.

“If you look at the estimated claimants, the numbers are just incompatible, it defies financial imagination.

“And this figure is ruining this city. We’re going to see the real basic infrastructure of the city, things like libraries, closed and sold off, and when they’re gone they can’t be replicated. I’m seeing the heart ripped out of my city.”

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: “In early 2023, there were a variety of estimates of equal pay liability, which were wide-ranging and clearly needed further work. Further detailed analysis was requested and subsequently the findings were shared with the public and all members of this council.

“Since then the council has worked tirelessly with trade unions and the commissioners to agree a job evaluation scheme that will help to end the equal pay liability once and for all.

“A budget for the next two years was approved by full council in March. We must now focus on how we spend what we have in the most effective way, and we are committed to getting the basics right across a whole range of service areas.”

A community theatre in Kent has asked the public for help maintaining its programme of activities after rising energy and supply costs have strained its resources.

The Astor Theatre in Deal said it has a £20,000 financial shortfall and needs to raise money to help support events, including theatre, film screenings and creative classes.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised nearly £4,000.

Board member Mig Kimpton said: "This theatre should be a beacon of creativity and support for everyone connected with Deal."

Building work to transform a former industrial building in Loughborough into a creative arts centre will begin this month.

The BBC reports that the £2.5m project to create a large-capacity, multi-purpose cultural centre for the town at the Generator Hall is due to be completed by next spring.

The Generator CIC, a community interest company managed by volunteers, said it has "been working hard for several years" to transform the 1930s building.

In addition to £1.8m previously secured from various channels, £700,000 from the government's Community Ownership Fund was confirmed on 22 December, allowing contracts to be signed and builders to be arranged.

David Pagett-Wright, Chair of the Generator CIC, said: "Alongside this amazing breakthrough, we've been working incredibly hard behind the scenes for reasons we can now reveal.

"When we went to tender in July 2023, we discovered that recent, exceptional inflation in building costs had made our established plans no longer feasible. We hit quite a wall.

"We had to re-work our plans, creating a two-stage approach, and then go back to our main funders to get their agreement. Thankfully, all are on board with this approach."

An Edinburgh-based writing showcase and networking event says it is closing for the foreseeable future after missing out on Creative Scotland project funding.

Page2Stage had previously received Creative Scotland Open Fund grants of almost £7,500 and £19,000 in 2022 and 2023.

Its funding bid for 2024 has been rejected twice, meaning it cannot apply again, as per Creative Scotland’s funding guidelines.

The funder says it is currently only able to support 30% of Open Fund applications, despite 75% being recommended for funding. 

“Difficult decisions are being made on a daily basis,” Creative Scotland said in a statement, adding that “demand is increasing while the funding available to us is not”.

Page2Stage Producer Michelle McKay told The Stage that despite the closure, the event is regrouping and looking at what other funding is available: “We are not giving up because we absolutely believe in what we do,” McKay said.

Middlesborough Council has decided against selling artwork from its £32.5m collection to help avoid bankruptcy after research into the legalities of the process concluded it could result in the "threat of significant legal challenges".

Director of Regeneration Richard Horniman said it could also affect future grant funding for the town.

Horniman told councillors: “Following some joint work between ourselves and Mima (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), it is clear that the ownership of the artworks is legally open to interpretation and therefore a challenge.

"For example, the LS Lowry painting was donated by the artist to the council for the people of Middlesbrough."

“The council technically own [the Lowry painting] but wouldn’t be able to try and sell it without the threat of significant legal challenge.

"Recent examples have shown it is very easy to prevent such sales and cause huge reputational damage in the process.”

Middlesbrough Council is one of at least 19 local authorities to receive exceptional financial support from the government, to help it avoid effective bankruptcy.

A spokesperson for ACE told the BBC that although they understood the financial difficulties faced by local authorities, selling off art should not be used to cover short-term gaps in funding as it would “erode the long-held and hard-won trust that the public have in museums and will cause irreversible damage to the UK’s cultural inheritance.”