Classical music gains from Sustain

Eighteen grants of between £75,000 and £900,000 have been made by Arts Council England (ACE) in the first two tranches of awards under the Sustain scheme. ACE has received 120 applications so far for the two-year, £40m scheme, which exists to help arts organisations suffering financially as a result of recession. The successful organisations include a preponderance of classical music and opera companies, with English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and the Royal Opera House (ROH) receiving high six-figure sums. Smaller-scale awards include British Youth Opera (£75,000), Déda in Derby (£91,742) and Project Art Works, Hastings (£89,937). Questions have arisen as to whether the large flagship organisations would receive the lion’s share of the money ({AP195}). A spokesperson for ACE told AP, “we are dealing with each application, whatever its artform, on its own merit, and they’re dealt with in date order”. ROH Chief Executive Tony Hall told AP that the funds would enable its opera development programme to continue, and said that problems had arisen “not because the work is not fundable, but because it’s not fundable at the moment”. He added, “I can see smaller companies being sceptical,” but said that the funds would not only sustain ROH work, but keep other artists in employment. Responding to the over-representation of classical music in the awards thus far, the ACE spokesperson said, “At the end of the day we think there is going to be a fairly even spread geographically, and concerning artform.”
Ikon Gallery in Birmingham is celebrating an award of £116,000, after having been forced to cut its income forecast for projects to which it was already committed. Speaking to AP, Deputy Director Judith Harry said that although the award had secured Ikon’s artistic and education programmes, cuts would still be needed. “We are having to run much more stringently. The research and development pot has shrunk, and we are not doing a catalogue for every show.” Geoffrey Rowe, Chief Executive of the Cheltenham Everyman Theatre, said that although its failure to gain £250,000 to enable its planned refurbishment to go ahead was disappointing, “it isn't going to rule out us doing this [project]”.