The work of six arts organisations involved with socially excluded groups across the UK has been placed in jeopardy following the shock announcement that the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund has frozen its grants programme.
Awards to arts organisations worth over £350,000, for work that is either currently in progress or just about to begin, have been suspended and although there is still a chance that the Fund will be permitted to release the promised funds, the situation is far from being resolved.
The Fund provides help for people who suffer from stigma and isolation. Its grants programme has been suspended following a failed lawsuit in which the Trustees of the Fund and the Executors of the Princess?s Estate sued the Franklin Mint, a producer of Diana merchandise. They lost the case and paid the court award against them, but the Franklin Mint has now launched a malicious prosecution suit against the Fund, whose lawyers have advised that not only new grants, but also payment of existing grants must be frozen. Lawyers acting for Franklin Mint have issued a document aimed at enabling the Fund to unfreeze its existing grant commitments, but the Fund has warned those awaiting payment not to raise their expectations, and is pursuing ?vigorous discussions to get replacement funding which would allow the work to continue?. The majority of arts recipients are based in England, but Arts Council England has not issued a statement on the subject and has indicated that it is unlikely to step in to help the companies affected.
Most seriously undermined by the crisis is Escape Artists, a theatre company that evolved out of a prison drama group, which is awaiting news of the £120,000 outstanding as part of a £180,000 awarded over three years to fund a programme targeted at young offenders and recently released young offenders. Drama workshops and a performance in Feltham Young Offenders? Institute, due to take place in August, have already been cancelled, though negotiations for an interest-free loan to see the company through the crisis are currently taking place with Cambridge City Council. Artistic Director Matthew Taylor said ?Although the Diana Trust is doing all that it can to remedy the situation, this process will not be quick enough to rescue the work expected to take place over the next few weeks? This news could have long-term repercussions as the funding covers some of our core staff costs as well as supporting our project work.?
Greenwich and Lewisham Young Peoples? Theatre is also affected by the Fund freeze and is currently awaiting payment of a second grant instalment for work which has already taken place with socially excluded young refugees. Development worker Stella Barnes said ?We are still hopeful that the situation will be resolved, though we have been told not to count on receiving any of the promised funding. As the project is already in progress it will prove very difficult to find new funders, and even if one can be found, grants of over £5,000 normally take three months or more to set up. Our work needs to continue in the new academic year, starting in September?. Others needing a swift resolution to the crisis are CADMAD in Cardiff, working to raise awareness of the issues facing refugees arriving in Wales amongst teachers, pupils and communities; Cleveland Arts, running a two-year programme of arts initiatives for young refugees and asylum seekers; and Prism Arts, part-way through a three-year project working with learning disabled people throughout Cumbria. Beavers Arts in Staffordshire has had a new three-year grant worth £90,000 approved for a project for young refugees and asylum seekers, but as the project has not yet begun, it is the least likely to be paid in the near future.