Around £25m of Lottery funding is to be invested in arts organisations across England, as part of a major two-year action research initiative from Arts Council England (ACE). The funding will support organisational development, the refurbishment and improvement of arts premises, and provide cash for new initiatives, pilot studies and creative projects. However, ACE has stated that the cash cannot be used to “subsidise current work or plug a gap in funding arising from cuts that have already been issued or may be issued in the future”.
The programme follows on from ACE’s controversial ‘Sustain’ funding programme (AP220), which offered organisations a lifeline through the recession but identified a subsequent need for support tailored towards building long-term resilience and “encouraging artistic excellence and innovation while enabling arts organisations to develop more robust business plans”. Through the research, ACE aims to develop its own understanding of the most effective ways of using Lottery money to support arts organisations in developing new business models and income streams. The money is being given to organisations that have been specifically identified by ACE as being able to benefit from the initiative. To take part in the research they have had to agree to be scrutinised throughout the process and to share detailed learning from the project with the wider arts sector. ACE confirmed that “these organisations were approached to apply for action research funding” following conversations about difficulties they were facing and the help that they needed from ACE. Sheena Wrigley, General Director and Joint Chief Executive of the West Yorkshire Playhouse (WYP), which received £1.5m, told AP that “the opportunity for the action research project came out of conversations following our bid for Sustain funds. After a six-month process of discussion and business plan development the final proposal was submitted to ACE.” Wrigley said that the award will allow WYP to “completely re-examine and rethink our business model, whilst still running the theatre on a daily basis. We will be addressing everything.”
ACE anticipates that there will be “a handful” of further action research awards, and that the remaining projects will be announced in the coming months. It hopes that by working with a small group of organisations whose needs are immediate it will be able to test new ways of working that will inform any future investment of Lottery funds. A spokesperson told AP: “it is prudent for us to plan for how best we can use these funds.” Wrigley hopes that the process “may have dissemination potential for the wider regional arts sector”. ACE told AP that “any future funding programme will be open application and will be informed by the learning from these awards… [but] it is important to remember that we are not working with limitless funds.”
The other six organisations to receive a grant so far are: Circomedia in Bristol (£0.5m), Warwick Arts Centre (£1.4m), Whitechapel Gallery (£3.2m), Battersea Arts Centre (£2.5m), the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith (£4.5m) and Rambert Dance Company (£7m). Each of the projects is at a stage where work can begin immediately or in the very near future.
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