Platform – Hobsons choice

So Englands Grants for the Arts (G4A) are to be cut by 35% (p1). It is a move that will affect the whole gamut of artists and organisations, from the large Regularly Funded Organisations (RFOs), many of whose core funding has been bolstered with big grants for touring and multiple-year programming, through to individual artists who rely on G4A as seed money to generate the big ideas of tomorrow. Last year there were approximately two applications for every G4A awarded. This year there are likely to be three for every successful application  in other words twice as many organisations will be left empty-handed. And, with the introduction of rules excluding multi-year applications, those organisations that try to plan for the long-term and not work on a project-by-project basis will be hardest hit. Its a bleak picture, compounded by the possibility of cuts to grant-in-aid following the Comprehensive Spending Review, and the confirmation that the Arts Councils own allocation of funds for 2008 onwards isnt due to be announced until the autumn (p4). This being the case, there seems to be little likelihood of RFOs knowing their own revenue grants until 2008 itself: not the most helpful of scenarios for robust financial planning.
Whilst it is tempting to point an accusatory finger at the Arts Council for taking away a large slice of the sectors funding for the development and distribution of art, it has to be said that ACE too is facing more than its fair share of uncertainties. Although the 2006/07 financial year is at an end, it has been given no firm figures for its Lottery allocation for this year, and is forced to work on projected figures. Having over-committed itself to Lottery capital projects in the past, and knowing that the Olympics will take a big bite out of its funding next year, it is now favouring a conservative approach to cashflow and working on the basis of a future downturn in revenues. Presumably, ACEs only viable alternative now would be to raid the budget for RFOs to restore spending on Grants for the Arts, but would that be any more palatable to the sector? Have your say in our online poll at www.artsprofessional.co.uk, and well let you know the verdict in the next issue.

Liz Hill and Brian Whitehead
Co-editors

Should Arts Council England reduce its support for Regularly Funded Organisations in order to make more money available through Grants for the Arts?

Vote online at http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk