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Funding Theatre in England: the Status QuoDateline: 16th December, 2001 Thanks to the Boyden Report and the government's reaction to it, providing additional funding for regional theatres, and thanks, too, to the Arts Council's recovery programme and stabilisation funding, the financial position of many theatres across England is, if not assured, then at least on a lot firmer footing than a few years ago. Lessons have been learned, too, from the mistakes of the early years of National Lottery funding, when a great deal of money was given for huge changes to theatres but no thought whatsoever was given to the extra costs these improved theatres would incur because of the improvements. It is safe to say that, financially, English theatres are in a better state now that at any time in the last ten years. Things are not the same in other parts of the UK, however. A recent conference in Wales set the target of restoring grant income in real terms to 1995 levels by 2006, an indication of how great a decline there has been. In fact, one of the speakers, Peter Tyndall (ACW), spoke of the need to move away from "managing decline", responding to the statistics produced for the conference which showed a sharp decline, not only in the production and presentation of live arts but also in the number of performers employed in productions. Since devolution, of course, the arts in Scotland have been in a state of flux, although theatre is beginning to emerge from the changes stronger than before. However, there is a downside to the current situation in England, as the Independent Theatre Council has pointed out. Whilst a large amount of money has gone to producing theatres across the country, independent theatre companies - those with no ties to a particular building - have been largely ignored. For these companies, funding has always been a bit of a lottery (no pun intended), depending, as it does, on where in the country the company is based. The amount spent by Regional Arts Boards (RABs) on independent companies varies hugely, both in actual amounts and in percentage of total funding. Theatre-based companies are more sexy: they attract more media interest and are better known to the public. Ask anyone in Yorkshire, for example, where the West Yorkshire Playhouse is based, and a majority will almost certainly be able to tell you. Ask the same people if they've heard of Unlimited Theatre, and from the vast majority you'll get a blank stare. Both are based in Leeds. The WYP is financed by Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Arts and Yorkshire Arts: Unlimited gets project funding from the City Council and Yorkshire Arts. This means that WYP gets substantial funding to pay the costs of keeping the theatre going, whilst Unlimited gets help with individual projects and has to find other means of financing its administration and unfunded work. And yet these small independent companies are a vital part of a healthy theatre scene. They provide jobs for actors, a training ground for young actors, opportunities for new writers to develop their craft. They bring theatre to areas where there are no theatres and to people who could not afford theatre prices. They nourish experimentation. Without them British theatre would be so much poorer. Unfortunately they have become the forgotten of the theatre world when it comes to funding and so many are living from hand to mouth, kept alive only by the sacrifices made by those who run them. It's now time for ACE to turn its attention in this direction - as a matter of urgency. Articles Indices:
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