Contemporary arts centre mac Birmingham is to lose 70% of its funding from Birmingham City Council.
A standalone charity, mac received £540,000 from the city council in 2015/16. This was reduced to £400,000 in the current financial year and a proposed cut for 2017/18 will mean it gets only £120,000. That will be a total reduction of £420,000 over two years.
On top of that, mac receives income from hiring the venue to council departments. But this will also be reduced, amounting to a further loss of £100,000.
Deborah Kermode, mac’s chief executive and artistic director, said, “we appreciate the difficulties the city council is facing. As an organisation of real importance to our community we aim to stay true to our ethos—to provide arts for all. However, a cut of this magnitude will be felt and as a result we will need to review our current services and partnerships.
“Our long-standing relationship with the council, created at our inception in the 1960s, will continue. We‘ve been assured of their continued support and welcome the opportunity to discuss our plans.”
Clayton Shaw, associate director—operations at South Asian arts organisation Sampad, added, “we work closely and strategically with mac where we’re based and we’re unsettled by the level of the reduction to their funding despite receiving a 17% cut ourselves.
“We appreciate the scale of the financial challenges faced by Birmingham City Council and will continue to work constructively with them and our colleagues within mac Birmingham during this exceptionally tough time.”
The venue, at Cannon Hill Park, turns over £4.7 million a year and contributes more than £14 million to the local economy, a spokesman said.