Arts funding

A scheme to build a new theatre on the site of the former Derby Assembly Rooms has been halted amid fears escalating costs could lead to "effective bankruptcy” for the council.

Derby City Council said that high inflation and interest rates had driven up predicted borrowing and construction costs for the Assembly Rooms site, which has been closed since a fire in 2014, leaving the project "unviable".

Earlier this year, the authority was awarded £20m from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to demolish the venue and replace it with a new ‘Learning Theatre’ hosting shows and offering students a place to work and perform.

The council had estimated the scheme, partnered by Derby Theatre and the University of Derby, would increase theatre attendance by 83,000, attracting an additional 25,000 visitors to the city and generating an extra £1.7m each year.

With the plan scrapped, DLUHC has agreed to a proposal to split the funds equally between Derby Theatre and the Guildhall Theatre, which has been disused since 2019.

Derby Theatre had been set to move into the new Assembly Rooms building as its current location is up for demolition. Meanwhile, the council is looking at bids from developers for the Assembly Rooms site.

Labour City Council Leader Baggy Shanker said: "The financial landscape for local government means that we can no longer take on the risk of proceeding with schemes of this scale, which could put us in the same difficult situation affecting some other local authorities who have had to declare effective bankruptcy.”

The boards of Jerwood Foundation and Jerwood Charity are set to be combined from 1 January 2024 following completion of formalities to merge the two organisations.

The foundation, which has been supporting the arts since 1977, endowed Jerwood Charity with a fund of £25m in 1999. The merger creates a single UK charitable foundation to ensure “a sustainable future with maximum impact for beneficiaries”.

The rationalised charity aims to support excellence and emerging talent in UK arts and crafts, with up to £2m of grants awarded each year. Applications for the first round of grants will need to be submitted before 1 March 2024 and will be awarded in April 2024. 

Rupert Tyler, formerly Chairman of Jerwood Charity, has been appointed Chairman of the merged Jerwood boards. Meanwhile, Lara Wardle, Executive Director of Jerwood Foundation, leads the organisation and management.

Alan Grieve CBE, Chairman of Jerwood Foundation for the last 30 years, remains a Trustee of Jerwood Foundation and Chairman Emeritus.

Wardle said: “We hope that our new streamlined, easy-to-understand application process will enable us to distribute funds effectively for maximum impact, fulfilling John Jerwood’s original philanthropic vision to support excellence and emerging talent in the UK.”

Six areas across England are to be awarded a share of £10.9m to scale up hundreds of creative industry businesses.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer announced the expansion of the government’s Creative Growth programme during the WeCreate conference at Manchester’s Aviva Studios yesterday (14 November).

The expansion doubles the areas covered by the programme. Creative businesses in Nottinghamshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Devon and Hertfordshire will now be eligible to access private investment and scale-up advice.

The amount of funding each area will receive is not set and depends on the individual area’s business needs and the number of businesses that apply for grants and support. 

Since launching in 2022, the Creative Growth programme has delivered £28.4m. It is estimated the programme’s expansion will take the total number of creative organisations supported by the scheme to 1,800.

The programme was developed to support government ambitions to grow the creative industries by £50bn by 2030.

Speaking in Manchester yesterday, Frazer said: "We’re already making progress towards the ambitious goals set out in our sector vision, unveiling millions in new funding to drive growth in our grassroots and scale ups and banging the drum for creative careers."

An Elgin councillor has branded Creative Scotland’s allocation of funds in the county of Moray “astonishing” after it emerged that 93% of grants went to a single postcode.

Of the almost £2.26 million awarded in the region since 2020, nearly £2.1 million went to organisations in the IV36 Forres postcode area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting service.

Sandy Keith, the Labour councillor for Elgin North, said: "It’s absolutely astonishing that there’s not one penny for Elgin, and we’re supposed to be building a cultural quarter here.

"Did nobody notice that most of the money’s going to one postcode?"

A representative on behalf of Dance North Scotland, Findhorn Bay Arts and Universal Hall Promotions said: "Yes, these organisations are based in Findhorn and Forres. However, all three organisations work tirelessly to ensure that the wider Moray community benefits from the arts... [They] offer services that reach across the region and have cultural impacts that reach much further afield."

A spokesperson for Creative Scotland said: "In our continued drive to grow engagement with arts and creativity and to help build more diverse, equitable and sustainable cultural and creative communities for the future, we’re in the process of developing revised processes for distributing our funding to individuals and organisations.

"We’d recommend anyone wishing to apply for funding to get in touch with us and find out what support is available to them."

This article has been updated to include a response from Dance North Scotland, Findhorn Bay Arts and Universal Hall Promotions.

The Musicians' Union (MU) and Trades Union Congress (TUC) will participate in a joint demonstration against proposed cuts to live music accompanying Northern Ballet's touring productions.

The General Secretaries of both unions will protest outside Newcastle Theatre Royal from 6.30 pm today (10 November) alongside musicians performing in the company's current production of Beauty and the Beast.

The rally marks an escalation of action by the unions, who are calling for Northern Ballet to reconsider its decision to replace its live orchestra with pre-recorded music for some performances to save money.

Last month, the Leeds-based company announced it had entered into “emergency discussions” with its core funder, Arts Council England, to “reassess the amount of live music” accompanying its touring productions from April 2024 onward.
 
The MU and TUC say the decision puts the livelihoods of musicians in the orchestra at risk and is symptomatic of a "lack of funding in the arts in the North".

Naomi Pohl of the MU said: "Musicians and the magic they bring to live performances cannot be replaced by recordings without a great loss to the art form. We are protesting not just for the musicians and their families but for everyone who believes in the power of live music." 
 
TUC Northern Regional Secretary Liz Blackshaw added: "The arts are a cornerstone of our society, and live music is essential to the fabric of performing arts. We stand with the Musicians’ Union in demanding a stop to this short-sighted cultural vandalism.

"We must protect our cultural assets and the professionals who dedicate their lives to enriching ours."