Some 831 artistic institutions — spanning the fields of theatre, dance, music and visual arts — will benefit from the support of the ACE, with the Arts Council investing a total of £409 million — 18% of which will be provided for by the National Lottery (£71 million).
One hundred and eighty-three institutions will receive funding from the ACE for the first time, whilst 45,8% arts organization will see their funding unchanged from previous years. Conversely, 8.4% of institutions will receive uplifts and 1% will experience reductions.
The overall allocation for visual arts organizations has been increased, as well as the number of institutions receiving funding: 149 as compared to the previous 121.
Turner Contemporary. Courtesy the institution.
Sir Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England, has said that ACE has “set out to deliver a significant increase in [its] investment outside London, [...] without detriment to the internationally renowned cultural offer of the capital” adding that “alongside continuing support for [...] great national companies, [ACE has] funded inventive, pioneering arts organisations and a new range of museums across the country, [including] libraries producing high quality cultural programmes.”
In particular, funding for the Baltic Art Centre Gateshead (Baltic Flour Mills Visual Arts Trust) remains stable at £3 million, whilst the Manchester Craft and Design will see its subsidies double. Elsewhere, the Kettie’s Yard House and gallery of the University of Cambridge will see an increase of 95% in financial aids, the Peckham Platform Ltd of 50%, Turner Contemporary of 16% and New Art Exchange Ltd of 70%. Conversely, London’s Southbank Center has experienced a decrease of 4% in funding, and will receive £18,36 million annually.
Among the grantees is the New Art Gallery Walsall, which faced the threat of closure after the Walsall Council proposed cutting its annual subsidy from around £900,000 to zero by 2020. The gallery will thus receive a four-year grant of £3,5 million by the Arts Council England and is also considering a partnership with University of Wolverhampton to secure its long-term future. Elsewhere, the South London Gallery will receive £300,000, which will support their campaign to transform Peckham’s former fire station into a new cultural center, set to open to the public in 2018.
Peckham's former fire station in South-East London.
Among the new beneficiaries are the A Space Arts in Southampton, Birmingham’s grand Union, the Disability Arts Online of Brighton, or the international Curators Forum in London.
More details via the Arts Council England’s official website.
