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The Next Stage: ACE's proposals for the future of English Theatre (2)

The Arts Council's Role

ACE feels that there will need to be a new flexibility, including "a change in the roles and functions of some of the producing theatres." There is much talk of a requirement for boldness and a willingness to face up to change. The new Framework, its says, "also requires a significant attitudinal change on the part of both the funders and theatre community if we are to consider the future of theatre without being tied by historical patterns and precedents."

Courage, it goes on, will be needed to achieve what is required.

Theatre - the Facts

And the facts are very definitely worrying:

• over the past six years audiences for opera and contemporary dance have risen by 14.4% and 13.7% respectively, while audiences for plays (as opposed to other forms of live theatre) have decreased by 1.4%
• the widespread lack of capital investment in buildings over the past 20 years, until the arrival of the Lottery, has meant that many theatres simply cannot survive in a new competitive leisure economy
• at the end of March 1999, the ERPTs carried forward a gross accumulated deficit of £4.4 million. Forecasts show that this will increase in coming years
• over a six year period, levels of funding to nationally touring companies have resulted in 24% fewer performances and 13% fewer workshops, leading to a 28% decrease in audiences
• by 1999/2000, fewer than 12 non-building-based companies regularly funded since 1994/95 had received grants that matched or exceeded inflation over that period
• the long-term decline in actor weeks continues - the average actor is employed in theatre for 11 weeks a year
• there are lower numbers of technical and production staff employed in theatres than there have ever been: the biggest loss has been in assistant and associate director posts
• new work has also been hit by the financial constraints on theatres. TMA data for 1998/99 showed that new work made up only 14% of productions. 14 ERPTs produced none at all that year

A Framework for a New National Policy for Theatre

Theatre must "respond to a multi-cultural Britain, embracing a wider range of forms and traditions; to a digital Britain seeking creative uses for emerging technologies; and to a Britain of the regions which celebrates local cultural distinctiveness, alongside its commitment to international excellence." This is not, ACE says, to dilute theatre's unique contribution to society, and certainly not to suggest that the text-based play no longer has any value. But, it says, "we cannot ignore the fact that many young people are now leaving school with little knowledge of the core texts."

Quality and access are to be central, and they are not, ACE insists, incompatible.

Again there is stress on the idea of flexibility:

While recognising the importance of the ERPTs, it cannot support the proposition that the 50 existing producing theatres have an inalienable right of preferential access to public funding. Maintaining the status quo is not an option. We now require a unified approach which acknowledges that if theatre in this country is to survive, then it must connect with other parts of the theatre ecology (for example, through collaborations), and with new audiences.

The National Policy intends to "deliver greater financial stability for theatre," resulting in

• longer planning cycles and less short-termism
• more flexible deployment of resources with theatre being seen as a real community resource
• stronger links between producing venues, presenting houses, and touring companies
• culture of innovation and risk with an emphasis on support for new work
• an opportunity to develop new audiences on a sustained basis

Next page: Addressing the needs - the Rewards of Investment - the Scale of Investment

Articles Indices:

Articles from 2002
Articles from 2001
Articles from 2000
Articles from 1999
Articles from 1998
Articles from 1997

©Peter Lathan 2001