Theatre Trust director speaks of cuts impact on the industry

The Theatres Trust has just received word that its grant will be slashed by £10,000 starting next April, making it the latest victim of budget cuts in the arts industry. Arts and Cuts spoke to Director Mhora Samuel about the latest developments and their impact on theatres in England.

“The Theatres Trust receives an annual grant of £55,000 from English Heritage. It has remained at this level since 1994 and equates to an annual reduction in subsidy as our grant has not risen with inflation. English Heritage has indicated that that our grant will reduce to £45,000 from 1^st April 2011. This is the third year in a three-year funding agreement and we have yet to hear what arrangements are to be made from 2012 onwards.

“This grant is awarded towards delivery of our work as a statutory consultee in the planning system. By law local authorities are required to consult the Trust on planning applications concerning land upon which there is a theatre.  In this way we are able to advise local authorities on development proposals that could have an impact on the continued existence of theatre buildings and securing their future use as theatres.

“In offering advice and working towards protecting theatres, The Theatres Trust’s work covers the arts, heritage and design sectors in England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland.  In the developed nations respective governments and assemblies are beginning to assess the level of grant aid they can provide to these sectors.  All are looking to make cuts or make standstill grant allocations to theatres.

“In England the immediate impact has been on the level of grant from DCMS to the Executive Arms Length Bodies.  Arts Council England’s cuts in 2011/12 are now known and we now know the level to which it will be passing on cuts to theatres that are currently regularly funded organisations.  On a strategic level, economic, social and educational investment has been lost and there have been some significant casualties such as Creativity Culture & Education which will lose its entire grant.  English Heritage has also received a very significant cut.

“The DCMS decided to cut its grant to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) entirely and the Department of Communities and Local Government has cut its entire grant to Planning Aid.  CABE, English Heritage and Planning Aid have significant advisory roles, which support local artists, local communities and help to generate inward investment. The future provision of these services is under review.

“Most significantly it is the cuts included in the CLG settlement on local authorities that will be felt by many theatres, particularly where theatres are owned and operated by local authorities. They are reviewing if they should continue to own and operate them as before.  Local authorities are also responsible for Planning and Arts Development and many are responding to the cuts by restructuring, not reappointing posts and reducing departmental resources.

“This reduction of resources is in the context of an increased focus on localism and neighbourhood planning and an emphasis on the Big Society where communities and individuals are being encouraged to have a wider engagement. Local authorities are expected to support these developments.

“In this climate theatres are having to respond to sudden major reductions in funding and support and advice, and are refocusing their businesses to become more self sustaining. For some, this will mean falling on reserves whilst re-evaluating their business activities. For others, who find themselves facing an uncertain future there could well be no choice but to close, merge or sell assets.

“If the cuts had been introduced over a longer time period it would have provided more time for theatres to adapt.  Given that the level of funding the Government provides towards arts, heritage and design is amongst the lowest across its departments, the difference in cost terms to the Government as a whole would have been minimal, but to the arts organisations affected the speed of change is going to be significant to their future resilience.

“If the cuts had been introduced in a more managed way, for example by protecting local authorities contributions to the arts for up to two years, it would have given theatres more time to adapt, make the transition and secure their future and provide a more solid base to replace public funds with new forms of financial support being encouraged by the Government (such as philanthropy).

“We have a small advisory team here at the Trust that advises on all aspects of concern to theatres and we are meeting with community based groups, theatres and local authorities across the country to discuss how they are managing the impact of cuts to local theatres.  We are aiming to secure future use, and helping groups to consider options and ways forward.”

The Theatres Trust can be contacted on 020 7836 8591 or info@theatrestrust.org.uk

An initial roundup of the cuts

At this point we have a pretty clear picture of the impact of the cuts in purely financial terms.

The first round of cuts, announced in June, saw Arts Council England (ACE) announcing a 0.5% cut in the funding it provides to 808 “front-line” organisations. ACE also promised efficiency savings over and above the £6.5m it had already saved.

The Guardian quoted chief executive Alan Davey as saying that “many organisations would find it tricky or testing” to make a saving of 0.5%. Their Datablog section offered a breakdown, including the raw data and a visualisation, of the financial consequences.

The Comprehensive Spending Review of the 20^th of October has now promised a further reduction of 30% in funding for ACE. In real terms, this means a reduction from £449.5m to £349m by 2014.

ACE’s own running costs will have to be slashed by 50%, on top of the 21% efficiency savings it has already found. This can be traced to Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt’s demand that ACE ensure that “front-line” organisations would only receive a 15% cut.

Charlotte Higgins discusses the fallacy of labelling some organisations as “front-line” and the government’s obfuscation of the figures here.

For the “front-line” organisations, the new budget tightening will mean a 10% cut in this financial year. Other bodies, deemed less essential, will be losing ACE funding outright.

We’ve updated the Guardian’s spreadsheet of the 18^th of June to reflect this 10% cut. You can find the data here and an infographic below.