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Dateline: 20th December, 2007
The Drill Hall Closes London's Drill Hall, the UK’s leading producer of lesbian and gay performance, has effectively closed after being told it will lose its Arts Council grant of £250,000 from April next year. The current in-house production has been cancelled, all staff made redundant, and incoming productions put on hold, as artistic director Julie Parker says, to reduce expenditure in the only way it can. The Arts Council in its letter to The Drill Hall of 12th December said that it has "serious concerns over the sustainability" of the organisation, but Parker points out that the grant represents just 20% of it income with much of the rest coming from hiring the venue to film and TV production companies. The building has been used to record popular shows for BBC Radio 4, such as The News Quiz and The Now Show. However she admits that, if the grant is lost, then the venue will close. "I am shocked and dismayed by this decision," she said, "and we will be appealing against it." She added, "At a time when the Arts Council and the Government say they want to champion participation and greater diversity in the arts, it is wrong to cut funding to an organisation that for thirty years has been a beacon for lesbian, gay and queer performance work and arts activities of the highest quality." A page on the venue's website has been set up to ask for support. Like the other organisations affected by the new Arts Council funding round, the Drill Hall has until 15th January to appeal.
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