ACE releases withheld payment for Wigan NPO

Arts Council England (ACE) has agreed to release a core funding payment to a theatre and music venue that was withheld last month pending a review of the organisation's financial situation.

A spokesperson from ACE said it received the results of its review into the economic challenges facing Arts at the Mill in Wigan last week, after which it gave the organisation a further opportunity to respond and provide additional evidence that funding conditions had been met.

In a statement to Arts Professional, ACE said Arts at the Mill had satisfied the October payment requirements and it has now agreed to release that payment. However, it added “any further funds will only be approved if all payment conditions have been fully met”.

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The conditions ACE set for releasing last month's payment included the submission of Arts at the Mill’s most recent board or advisory/oversight group papers along with their registration to Illuminate, ACE’s audience data and insights platform.

Responding to an endorsement of the Art at the Mill's solvency conducted by insolvency practitioner Marshall Peters, ACE informed the venue: "It would appear that the company is solvent and should continue in its current form i.e. that it can pay its current debts as and when they fall due.

"We note that this is dependent on funding being made available."

Structural damage

Arts at the Mill, which trades under the name The Old Courts, became a member of the portfolio for the first time in November last year, awarded £305,000 a year for the three-year period. But in April, significant structural damage was identified in the concrete floor of its Grand Vault music venue and 150-seat theatre.

The venue estimated that it would cost £100,000 to make the venues functional and a further £300,000 to restore them to their previous condition. It was initially self-funding the process while it waited for the result of an insurance claim relating to damage, believed to have been caused during previously contracted building work to remove a large safe.

While parts of the building remain open, the closure of these performance spaces resulted in around £1.2m of lost revenue, which prompted ACE to pause payments to the non-profit community interest company to review its financial situation.

Financial challenges

An ACE spokesperson said: “As a distributor of taxpayers’ money, we have a duty to ensure that it is well managed and all regularly funded organisations sign an agreement in respect of governance, management and finances.

"Once we became aware of financial challenges at Arts at the Mill CIC in Wigan, we immediately commissioned a review, the outcome of which we received last week. We gave Arts at the Mill the opportunity to respond to the review and to provide further additional information about their current financial status, which they have done.

"They have also provided evidence that funding conditions have been met in relation to their October national portfolio payment, and we have agreed to release that payment. Any further payments will only be approved if all payment conditions have been fully met.

"We will continue to work with Arts at the Mill to ensure that they have satisfactory governance and finance processes in place to receive taxpayers’ money and intend to commission a further independent financial review.”

“We remain committed to supporting arts and culture in Wigan, which is a priority place for the Arts Council, and we will continue to work with Wigan Council and partners to support culture and creativity.”

'A tough road ahead'

“The last six months have been horrendous, but we have a plan to bounce back stronger than ever," Arts at the Mill's Sales and Marketing Director Rebecca Davenport told Wigan Today.

"We have a tough road ahead, but we have an incredible team who are dedicated to The Old Courts and Wigan, they got us to where we are today and they will get us to where we need to be in six months’ time."

Davenport said that a structural engineer had completed design work to repair the damage to the building and that the organisation was putting together a package of works and obtaining prices.

She added: "Once all the structural works have been completed, we can concentrate on reinstating the floors along with [the] raised section to the rear of the theatre before painting, tech, and seat reinstatement."