Winners and losers in arts funding shake-up: Hear informed debate with Barrie Rutter

Northern Ballet Theatre, Red Ladder and Opera North were among the day’s losers, receiving decreased grants from the Arts Council, while Wakefield Theatre Royal, Third Angel theatre company, Museums Sheffield and Georgian Theatre Royal will no longer get any money from the funding body.

On a dark day for the arts, there was some good news, with increased grants to Ilkley Literature Festival, Bradford’s Freedom Studios and Full Body and The Voice, while Leeds theatre company Slung Low, Barnsley Civic Enterprise and Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council will all receive funding for the first time.

All the companies receiving increased funding, however, were careful not to sound too triumphant, as a spokesman for Faceless, a Wakefield-based theatre company, said: “A sobering thought is for those arts organisations that have been cut or axed. The cultural landscape in Wakefield has significantly changed.”

The funding news was part of the biggest shake-up of the arts in Britain in decades. The money the Arts Council receives from central Government has been reduced by 29.6 per cent, with the organisation told to make 14.9 per cent cuts to the companies it funds. Rather than “salami slice” a 15 per cent cut across the board, all companies applying for money were assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Before yesterday’s announcement there were 105 Regularly Funded Organisations in Yorkshire. From next year that number will become 80.