Oldham Coliseum 'too high risk’ an investment, says ACE

Issues around leadership and financial concerns played a part in the decision to remove Oldham Coliseum from the National Portfolio, Arts Council England (ACE) has said.

Speaking to Arts Professional, Sarah Maxfield, ACE's Area Director for its North region, said financial deficits dating from before the pandemic and a long-term decline in audience numbers were factors in the decision, with the application ultimately being deemed too high risk “both in terms of financial viability and in management and governance capacity”.

“There has been a great deal of turnover in leadership in the theatre so even going into the NPO investment round, the organisation was coming from quite an unstable place,” she said.

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“Had we put it in the portfolio, with that level of risk, it would have been the highest risk of all 990 organisations.”

Last week, Oldham Coliseum Theatre revealed plans to ‘go dark’ and cease performances after 26 March, due to the loss of its ACE funding.

The theatre has seen an outpouring of support since its announcement, with some criticising ACE for its decision to defund one of the oldest working theatres in England.

Earlier this week, union body Equity urged its members to write to ACE’s North Area Board, creating a template letter which called on the Arts Council to explain its decision.

Maxfield told Arts Professional all prospective national portfolio organisations were assessed against the same criteria, with ACE’s Let’s Create strategy in mind.

“The application they submitted did not make a strong case against the criteria. It did not convince us that they were going to be able to deliver what they set out in their application,” she said.

In an interview with the Oldham Times, Maxfield confirmed ACE has accepted Oldham Coliseum's application for transition funding, which is expected to cover a seven-month period through to October.

Investment in Oldham

ACE has ringfenced the £1.8m Oldham Coliseum requested over three years for investment into Oldham’s arts and culture sector.

Maxfield said this was done as “we did not want Oldham to lose out financially or in access to great arts and culture programmes” and was influenced by Oldham’s inclusion as a Levelling Up for Culture Place.

She explained the £1.8m has the council’s name “against it”, with ACE currently in discussion with the council on what it envisages the money could be spent on, before the council undertakes an application process for the funds. 

The funding could go towards education and outreach, talent development, festivals or performances in the park, Maxfield said, and added ACE is open to a delivery body outside the council leading a funded programme, if that is determined the most suitable cause of action.

Once there is an agreement over the programme, Maxfield said ACE could deliver the funds in a “couple of weeks”, which could see the programme confirmed in the next couple of months. 

When asked if ACE would authorise part of the £1.8m going towards Oldham Coliseum to help safeguard the theatre’s future, Maxfield said the funder is “not ruling anything out at this stage [as] we want the proposal to be the right thing for Oldham”. 

“However, the caveat would be that the concerns about governance and management, financial control and viability would remain,” she added.

“I think that those [concerns] would need to inform the ways we look at the proposal for the Coliseum to have a part in delivering the future programme”.

“That said, some of the things the Coliseum has been doing, such as education and outreach, may well be part of the conversation going forward.”