ACE-funded theatre cancels all events amid uncertain future

A Halifax theatre in receipt of Arts Council England (ACE) funding as part of the National Portfolio has announced it is closing its doors while it considers the future of the venue.

Square Chapel said in a statement that all future events have been cancelled until a decision is made. It confirmed that it will directly contact any creditors and debtors and that anyone with tickets for upcoming performances will be automatically refunded.

A spokesperson from ACE, which funds Square Chapel to the tune of £159,000 a year, told the Halifax Courier: “We’re aware that Square Chapel has been facing financial challenges. We are in contact with the directors while they investigate the options open to them.”

Calderdale Council provided Square Chapel with £70,000 per year from 2019 until 2022, but has ruled out further support for the struggling theatre.

Councillor Danielle Durrans said that although Square Chapel is popular and has been valuable in showcasing local talent, it is not a council-owned building.

“Unfortunately it is not possible for us to contribute to it financially as we are having to spend our limited budget very carefully and make difficult decisions across a range of services,” said Durrans.

“We are in contact with [ACE] and will explore all possibilities for the future of the venue.”

Paused payments

Six months ago, ACE resumed payments to Square Chapel after temporarily halting them amid concerns that some performers who had played at the venue had not been paid.

ACE said that it took action after the art centre’s directors “failed to provide adequate information” to satisfy the conditions of its National Portfolio funding agreement.

Following the receipt of evidence, ACE said it restarted the instalments but noted that any further payments would only be approved “on a case-by-case basis on receipt of satisfactory monitoring information”.

A spokesperson for Square Chapel said at the time that several factors contributed to its cash flow problems, including Calderdale Council withdrawing its funding and redundancies at a related organisation, The Old Courts, which affected staff capacity and expertise.

They said that the process of having its ACE funding paused had been “incredibly frustrating” and that it had accrued “a significant number of priority and artist debts” during that time.

They said, “If we’d have known that our funding was at risk of being frozen for such a long time, there’s no way we’d have made commitments to artists.

“We believed that the [situation] would be quickly resolved, which is why we continued to trade. We pride ourselves on looking after artists, and not being able to pay them on time has been a massive blow to everyone.”

Arts at the Mill

Square Chapel was named a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) in 2022, just two years after falling into administration.

In September 2020, the venue was saved from closure when it was taken over by Arts at the Mill, an umbrella company for Wigan organisations The Old Courts, Wigan Pier and the Royal Court Theatre, a move supported by ACE and Calderdale Council.

Square Chapel is the second Arts at the Mill organisation to have its NPO funding paused. In October 2023, The Old Courts had its payments temporarily frozen after it lost around £1.2m in revenue when structural damage to its concrete floor resulted in temporary closure.

An investigation conducted last year by Arts Professional and MyCake, a financial benchmarking company, found that the arts organisations in the 2023-26 National Portfolio were collectively in the red by £63.1m in 2023.

During the current portfolio period the total number of NPOs has dropped by five. The Great Literary Agency announced last month that it would close at the end of March, while Derby-based dance company Déda entered liquidation in August 2024, and Studio 3 Arts, which was based in Barking, went into liquidation in December 2023.

Beacon Collaborative has also left the 2023-26 portfolio, while Poet in the City closed as a separate charity, merging its activities with Apples & Snakes.