Northern Ireland’s oldest active dance company, Derry-based Echo Echo Dance Theatre, is facing closure after learning that it is to lose its annual funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle, the company’s co-founder and artistic director Steve Batts said, “if this decision stands, it will be terminal for the company. Full-time jobs will be lost, artists will lose employment opportunities, confirmed projects with funding in place are now at risk, and a bespoke arts centre will close”.
Three full-time jobs are at immediately at risk with the company’s Echo Echo Studios base also under threat.
Founded by Batts and Ursula Laeubli in Amsterdam in 1991, the company worked throughout Europe before relocating to Derry in 1997.
The news—the first indication of funding decisions for 2025–26—comes as the Arts Council’s own allocation from the Department for Communities for the year ahead is yet to be announced.
In what is becoming a familiar dilemma for Northern Ireland’s arts organisations, annual funding allocations have again failed to be revealed before the start of the fiscal year.
The delay has prompted growing concerns that DUP Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is considering across-the-board cuts to arts funding.
In a statement, Echo Echo said the rejection of its requested £112,910 had “come as a great shock”.
It added: “This is an immediate existential threat to the company but we expect to continue all of our current programmes and keep Echo Echo Studios open and staffed for at least the next three months as we consider all of our options”.
In its statement in response, the Arts Council noted that £28,000 had been offered to Echo Echo.
“Unfortunately, with disappointment this year Echo Echo did not receive 25–26 AFP funding. We want to reassure the dance community in NI that public investment in dance in the Derry City and the North West region remains a priority and we will be working to ensure that provision for dance continues.”
Following a meeting with the Arts Council earlier this week, Echo Echo has said it will request a formal funding review of the decision.