Local authorities

Birmingham City Councillors are being asked to approve a standstill culture budget of nearly £3m for 2022/23.

The local authority says smaller arts organisations will be commissioned to deliver projects for underserved communities as the sector builds back from Covid and prepares for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

Funding for major organisations including City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet; Birmingham Repertory Theatre, IKON Gallery and Ex Cathedra will be maintained.

While it wants to continue supporting its current portfolio, the council says it needs to allocate funding differently in light of Arts Council England's new priorities and a decrease in arts funding over the past decade.

"Whilst there are many excellent arts organisations in the city, the reduced arts budget has meant that it has been difficult enough to sustain the existing portfolio."

An arts-based community project aims to change behaviours towards climate change in Northern Ireland.

Led by Derry theatre The Playhouse, Artitude: Climate, Culture, Circularity has £150,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to tackle environmental topics including waste and net zero targets.

The 18-month project will culminate in Artitude Festival 2023, timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Londonderry’s stint as the inaugural UK City of Culture.

Playhouse Chief Executive Kevin Murphy says research conducted throughout will help form new environmental targets for the area.

“This project will give a clear path to the future and help people who want to take action to know what to do. As a community, we are positively choosing to help sustain our planet’s climate.”

A Guildford theatre faces a "deeply demoralising" cut to its council grant.

Guildford Borough Council plans to gradually cut funding to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre over the next three years.

Its annual grant of £310,220 will be cut by £37,000 in April and reduced further year on year, reaching £200,000 by 2024/25.

The theatre’s financial deficit will increase to £364,000 as a result, Director and Chief Executive Joanna Read says.

The council pointed towards recent Cultural Recovery Fund grants - money the theatre spent to pay wages and bills during its closures - to demonstrate the theatre's financial health.

The decision comes as Guildford bids for city status, an ambition the theatre believes is difficult without investment in culture. 

“The theatre has just come through the worst period of operation in its history,” Read said.

“To receive this cut now, this lack of support, at such a critical time, is deeply demoralising.”

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council must reconsider plans to abolish all grant funding for local arts from April, an online petition says.

Funding for local organisations, including The Old Court and Norden Farm, were cut by 45% last year, making the area one of the lowest for investments in culture despite being England's second-most affluent local authority.

Public Campaign for the Arts is calling instead for increased investment in Windsor and Maidenhead’s arts and culture.

Council Leader Andrew Johnson said the decision is an attempt to make the organisations “self-financing”.

Nordern Farm Chief Executive and Artistic Director Jane Corry said the hit would be “extremely hard”.

“From the dream residents first had of having their own arts centre to the thriving venue it has become took 40 years of hard work.

"To lose that would be too tragic to imagine.”

Peterborough's Key Theatre has been saved by Selladoor, which operates the local New Theatre.

The venue closed earlier this week despite attempts by campaigners and the local council to keep it open.

It was Peterborough's only subsidised theatre and a home to Mask Theatre and the Kindred drama group.

The city said Key Theatre was forecast to lose £300,000 per year and that it will "look for different, more cost effective ways to deliver services".

Efforts to find a commercial operator came to fruition on Thursday (January 20), thought the deal is still subejct to final negotiations.

A council spokesperson said aspirations outlined in a new cultural strategy remain.

"We are fully committed to maintaining and improving the city’s cultural offer, however our budget position may challenge this work.  

"We will face some difficult decisions going forwards and we have to be realistic in our ambitions until we are operating in a financially stable way."

Community groups may soon be able to take over a theatre at risk of closure.

Thurrock Council has changed its position on selling the Thameside Complex, which contains a library, museum and Thameside Theatre.

It now says handing the theatre over to campaigners is the best option.

Sam Byrne of the Save Your Thameside Campaign said "we have a long way to go".

"We are pleased that the people of Thurrock's voices have been heard. However, this is not a done deal by any means.

"If the community were able to take the Thameside Complex on, the financial support from the council for this transformational project would have to be right to ensure its success."