Local authorities

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.”

Work is underway on a temporary theatre venue following the closure of the Orchard Theatre in Dartford over reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) concerns.

The Orchard Theatre was closed in September due to fears over RAAC in its roof.

In response, the temporary auditorium, which will have a 1,091-person capacity, is being built in Orchard West.

It will facilitate performances while refurbishment works on the Orchard Theatre are undertaken, which are expected to be completed in late 2024.

A spokesperson for Dartford Borough Council (DBC) told the BBC the temporary venue will also support the continued employment of the theatre team, visiting artists and backstage crew.

One of the temporary venue’s first events will be this year's pantomime.

Michael Harrison, Chief Executive of Crossroads Pantomimes, said: "We're delighted that DBC and Trafalgar Theatres have found such a creative solution to keep theatre alive in Dartford while work on the Orchard Theatre is undertaken".

Portsmouth Creates is moving ahead with a project worth £1.1m to grow creativity and culture in Portsmouth after receiving backing from Arts Council England (ACE).

The organisation successfully bid for ACE Place Partnership funding worth £650,000 over the next three years.

Portsmouth Creates’ founding partners – Portsmouth City Council, the University of Portsmouth and Victorious Festival – are contributing £450,000.

A statement from the organisation says funding will be put towards an “an ambitious programme aimed at driving growth and developing talent and inclusion for creatives and communities through collaboration, building capacity and creative pathways”.

Plans include a Business Support Programme, Creative Directory, and Sector Mapping exercise to identify skill gaps and opportunities across the city.

Opportunities for young people include the development of a Youth Board Mentoring Scheme and Apprentice Programme.

Portsmouth is set to host the We Connect Annual Conference and We Shine 2024 and 2026. In 2025, a programme of citywide celebrations will spotlight Portsmouth’s role within the world of literature.

“As a Priority Place for Arts Council England, now is our time to ensure that the creatives, cultural organisations, and communities are given the skills and the confidence and opportunity to reach their full potential and beyond,” said, Gemma Nichols, Portsmouth Creates CEO.

“Portsmouth is a city full of creativity, through our programme our aim is to unlock much more of this."

Somerset Council has pledged not to lose a £10m grant to redevelop the Octogan Theatre in Yeovil despite the project being put on hold due to rising costs.

Plans to turn the theatre into a ‘flagship arts venue’ were initially expected to cost £23m, with a grant from Arts Council England (ACE) providing £10m and the remainder due to come from external borrowing. But councillors paused the project to evaluate cheaper options for the site after the estimated cost rose to £30.7m.

However, changes to the plans to make them more affordable could mean the grant from ACE would be pulled, and the council would need to rebid for the money with an updated business plan. 

The deputy leader of Somerset Council, Liz Leyshon, said in a BBC report the original ACE grant was something “none of us have ever seen in our lifetime before” and promised that councillors would “not let that opportunity go”.

She also defended the authority’s handling of the matter, adding: "People in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Arts Council are well aware of challenges to big projects in other arts venues across the country, so they know, I'm sure, that we're being responsible here.

"It is our responsibility to come up with, through the options appraisal, an alternative business case that can achieve the same outcomes, but with a lesser pressure on the council's overall budget."

Funding for the original project included a £16.3m loan from the Public Works Loan Board at 1.5%. After councillors were told that the rate had increased to  5.6%, with repayments expected to reach £1m annually, the plan was deemed “unaffordable”.

Leyshon said the council faced “huge” budget challenges but upheld the council's commitment to arts funding. She said: "People of all ages must be able to have happy, healthy, fulfilling lives, and the opportunity to either perform or be in the audience is a part of that prevention agenda."
 

Work to transform the basement of Portsmouth Guildhall into a new creative space for young people to collaborate and perform in will begin on Monday (23 October) as part of a £1.3m project.

The work, supported by £500,000 of funding from Arts Council England and £550,000 from Portsmouth Council, will see the main basement area and associated rooms remodelled to provide space for young people aged between 11 and 25 to "meet and explore their creative potential".

The facility, called The Base, will open in late Spring 2024.

Andy Grays, CEO of The Guildhall Trust, said: “The transformation of the basement is an exciting phase of the Renaissance of Portsmouth Guildhall. 

"The Base will allow us to provide a much more suitable environment for some of our existing work with young people, such as Urban Vocal Group, and importantly provide a new, supportive and much needed facility within our community that will help young people to flourish and feel safe.”

An arts charity in the North West of England will receive a funding boost of more than £800k after successfully applying to Arts Council England’s (ACE) Place Partnership Fund.

ACE has awarded Culture Warrington a £600,000 grant to create a two-year programme focused on developing the Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival (WCAF).

Culture Warrington, which oversees Warrington Museum & Art Gallery, Pyramid Arts Centre and Parr Hall, will also get match funding from Warrington Borough Council and Warrington Business Improvement District of £240,000. 

Describing the grants as “game-changing”, Culture Warrington said it plans to use the money to renew its focus on “accessible large-scale, outdoor and family-friendly events” across three new project areas – community engagement, artist development and children and young people.

The programme will see the creation of four new jobs before the end of the year ahead of the festival in the spring. The enhanced WCAF will also incorporate a Fringe Festival, artist training opportunities and a young producers’ project.

Leah Biddle, Director of WCAF, said: “Our established festival has continued to grow and evolve each year, and this investment will ensure we can create a transformational change within Warrington’s cultural sector.

“We have responded to feedback to create a new children and young people’s programme, enhancing existing activity and developing unique opportunities to explore pathways into the creative industries.”

Russ Bowden, Leader of Warrington Borough Council, added: “High-quality cultural events are an essential part of Warrington’s offer, as they play a crucial role in making our area an attractive and vibrant destination to visit, as well as bringing social and health and wellbeing benefits."

Fenland District Council has launched a grant scheme to support arts, culture and heritage activities across the region.

The programme offers up to £2,000 funding to local creatives and community arts organisations.

Successful projects must demonstrate that they benefit communities or artists in the district and meet one of the four criteria of the Fenland Creativity and Culture Strategy - “building new relationships, reaching more people, improving the quality of your work and supporting artistic ambition”.

The scheme is backed by the government's UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Arts Council England.

Hazel Edwards, South-East Area Director, Arts Council England, said: "We're thrilled to see the Fenland Culture Fund gearing up to welcome its first applications and to have supported the small grants programme with £25,000 of our own Strategic Investment Funding.

"Fenland is one of Arts Council England's 54 Priority Places from across the country, where we are working extremely hard with local authorities and partnerships to increase access to creativity and culture.”

Belfast City Council is investing £5.9m to deliver a programme of cultural events and community-led activities billed as the city’s “biggest ever creative and cultural celebration”.

The Belfast 2024 programme will begin in spring and run through the year with a series of workshops, performances and events.

It will be led by 24 large-scale commissions, under a collective theme of People, Place and Planet, 17 of which have been specially commissioned following an open call earlier this year.

Among the signature events in development are a collaboration with the Eden Project, the development of public art installations and a UNSECO City of Music event.

The programme will also feature six international residencies, a community-led Creative Citizens scheme and a music heritage programme.

According to a statement on the council’s website, investment in Belfast 2024 was approved by all political parties earlier this autumn and follows extensive engagement with local cultural, community and arts providers over the last 18 months.

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Ryan Murphy, said the cultural programme “is a hugely ambitious and exciting step forward for Belfast”.

“By investing in the arts in this way, we are creating new opportunities to protect, sustain and develop employment in a sector which is a catalyst for so much of our local economy.”