The demise of Stratford Circus has a horribly familiar ring about it (p1). Lottery-funded arts regeneration projects hitting the buffers with funding difficulties are sadly not unknown.
Stockton?s Arc, an £8.5m arts venue, closed in November 2001 (ironically, less than six months after Stratford Circus finally opened) having overspent by £2m in almost three years. It officially re-opens later this month, thanks to new funding agreements with Stockton Borough Council and Arts Council England (ACE), which is stumping up around £200,000 a year to keep it running.
By comparison, Stratford Circus?s debts would appear to be far more modest, though Newham Council and ACE will still have to devise some sort of rescue package if it is to survive as an arts venue. Given that ACE was the major capital funder of Stratford Circus and Newham Council is the primary revenue funder, it will be interesting to see how these two set about resolving the problem. ACE already invests over £700,000 a year in the neighbouring Theatre Royal Stratford East and supports East London Dance, Theatre Venture and Urban Development, all currently resident at Stratford Circus. It?s unlikely to be enthusiastic about granting revenue to enable Stratford Circus to re-open. But at the same time, Newham Council will surely be suffering from the financial squeeze afflicting local authorities across the country and although it has committed itself to ?establishing a vibrant Cultural Quarter in Stratford?, it has been less forthcoming about its future funding for Stratford Circus. At a national summit last year to agree a vision for future relationships between ACE and local authorities, ACE Chief Executive Peter Hewitt emphasised that joint investments in local and national projects would characterise a new joined-up way of working for the two funders (ArtsProfessional issue 39, December 2, 2002). Only time will tell how that vision turns into reality.