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The Next Stage: ACE's proposals for the future of English TheatreDateline: 21st May, 2000 It was in January that the Boyden Report made it official that most regional theatres in the UK are trading insolvently. The Arts Council of England, which had commissioned the report, then began a study and a series of discussions which culminated this week with the publication of their considered reaction, The Next Stage. In the new publication, ACE lays out a vision of the future of theatre, a vision which, it accepts, will cost a lot of money and which, it admits, it may not be able to fund. The full document, in .pdf format, can be found on the Arts Council's Website: what follows here is a summary of the main points. The document is in eleven parts. The Context The document begins by fully accepting the findings of the report and saying that "maintaining the status quo is not an option." It recognises the need for extra funding and commits itself to seeking that funding and "providing the policy Framework needed to make it a reality." The new Framework must not just be concerned with the fifty English Regional Producing Theatres (and they introduce a new acrnym here - ERPTs!) but with what the document calls "the broad theatre ecology." This will require, it says, "a clarification of the roles and functions of the ERPTs with reference to the wider world of theatre, embracing other venues and sources of production: regional presenting centres, arts centres and other spaces, non building-based subsidised production and touring, other subsidised theatre in London, and the West End and commercial production." It will also require another look at ACE's touring policy and the roles of the RSC and RNT. All of this will lead to a National Policy for Theatre. The Challenge Theatres, it says, are carrying a deficit of many millions, audiences for plays (but not all forms of live theatre) are falling, there are fewer productions and tours, and there is insufficient new work. It recognises that part of the problem is money and that theaters have been "inadequately funded" since the mid-eighties. This has led to a drain on talent and resources, which has produced an environment in which it has been much harder for artists and managers to take creative risks. Some parts of the sector have, perhaps inevitably, become insular and territorial. They have been unable to commission new work or take full advantage of new talent and the new resources offered by the 21st century. This, coupled with a concentration of resources on buildings and institutions, rather than people and art, has led us into what Sir Richard Eyre described recently as ‘a kind of First World War thinking where the preservation of territory becomes more important than the reason for occupying it.’ It then gives four areas which theatre must reach: young people, multi-cultural Britain, the new technology and the regions. Funding for Theatre Between them ACE and the RABs (Regional Arts Boards) will spend about £70m on theatre in 2000-2001. Local Authorities, the Arts Council and the Regional Arts Boards contribute jointly to not only the 50 ERPTs but also to over 40 non-building-based touring companies and over 160 presenting theatres (large and mid-scale). Some 33 companies benefit from fixed-term Arts Council funding. Local Authorities and Regional Arts Boards also fund a number of theatre organisations with which the Arts Council has no direct financial relationship. Next page: ACE's role - Theatre, the facts - A Framework for a new National Policy for Theatre
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