Arts funding

The Henry Moore Foundation has launched a £100,000 fund to support 50 artists across the UK in response to the cost-of-living crisis.

The grants will aim to alleviate some of the financial pressures facing artists amid funding cuts and rising costs.

The 50 artists, who will receive the funding this month, were nominated by a panel of prominent cultural figures from across the UK, including Northern Ireland. 

Recipients include artists at all stages of their careers, working in a wide range of media and across different themes.

“This is an incredibly difficult moment for the arts and especially so for many artists,” said Godfrey Worsdale, Director of the Henry Moore Foundation.

“Henry Moore himself benefitted from an ex-serviceman’s grant after he fought in the First World War, which enabled him to study sculpture at Leeds College of Art.

"With this in mind and the challenging outlook for 2023, the Foundation wanted to offer timely support and give artists across the country some much-needed assistance.”

The fund is unrestricted, allowing artists to use the money in whatever way they need, from paying rent on a studio to reimbursing the funds for work they may have lost due to events and exhibitions being cancelled or postponed.

“The awarding of this grant allows me to take a deep breath and exhale, relieving some of the everyday burden of asking, how am I going to keep on pushing through as someone who has chosen to prioritise the creative part of my being in a society which often makes you question if that was the right thing to do in life,” said artist Adam Farah-Saad, one of the recipients of the award.
 

A performing arts group serving children, adults and people with special educational needs is at risk of closure due to cutbacks by Thurrock Council in Essex.

The council has debts totalling around £1.5bn and has announced plans to withdraw £126,000 in funding for youth work, the BBC reported.

Victoria Jarmyn, CEO and Founder of JTD Arts, said that her group had received funding from the council for 14 years but that she had no promise of further funds from April.

JTD also receives funding from Active Essex, but the uncertainty over continued funding from the council has left her “a bit petrified", she told the BBC.

“These adults have been coming here and they have relied on this service and it has helped them integrate within the community to be able to become a lot stronger within society,” she said.

“To take that away has quite a lot of impact on their life skills.”

The group operates from the Thameside theatre complex in Grays, which is under threat of sale. A 2021 report found that the venue cost £500,000 annually in running costs and that refurbishment would cost £16m.

Councillors are due to discuss the complex’s future next week.

Conservative Council Leader Mark Coxshall denied that the Thameside would be closing.
 

Creative Scotland is seeking to address the inconsistency in rates of pay for freelancers across its funding programmes.

Although it does not set rates of pay itself, Scotland's arts funding body said it wants to ensure that industry-standard rates are equitably and consistently applied.

Alastair Evans, Interim Director, Strategy at Creative Scotland said: “Creative Scotland is committed, through any activities we support, to ensure that artists and professionals working in the creative sector are paid fairly with appropriate terms and conditions and employment opportunities.”

Research to identify key priorities for change is being carried out by consultancy practice Culture Radar and Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University.

They are currently seeking 'sector representatives' who have either made or been included in Creative Scotland funding applications, to contribute online to rates of pay consultations between 27 February - 2 March 2023. 

Evans added: “We encourage as many people as possible working across the industry to contribute to this important piece of work.

“This research will help to create the conditions for more meaningful and sustainable opportunities to work across, and progress through, the sector.”

Arts Council Wales (ACW) has opened applications to its next multi-year funding programme.

The Investment Review 2023 marks the first opportunity for arts organisations in Wales to apply for multi-year funding since ACW’s last portfolio was announced in 2015.

It centres on six principles – creativity, widening engagement, Welsh language, climate justice, nurturing talent and transformation - that organisations must demonstrate their commitment to when they apply.

In December, Arts Professional published a guide for arts organisations considering applying for the programme. 

ACW has said any enquiries relating to the application process outside of technical issues must take place before 3 March. 

Applications close on 31 March.