Video: Yorkshire arts groups lose out as funding is slashed

In Yorkshire there were both big winners and some very big losers.

Northern Ballet has received a 25 per cent cut, amounting to an £800,000 reduction in the money it receives from the Arts Council.

In the same building there was more bad news for Phoenix Dance Theatre, which received an 11 per cent cut in its funding.

Chief Executive of Northern Ballet, Mark Skipper, said: ‘We are deeply disappointed with this funding outcome for Northern Ballet. The budget we submitted to ACE reflected our true costs for 2012/15 and was built on a real schedule of touring and allowing us to create new work. It was carefully calculated to reflect what Northern Ballet needs to deliver ACE’s ambition of great art for everyone.”

The news of the cuts to these two organisations is particularly surprising as it was less than two months ago that NB and Phoenix unveiled their £12m, part Arts Council funded, purpose built new building at Quarry Hill in Leeds.

Other organisations losing out include Wakefield Theatre Royal, which will no longer receive any Arts Council funding and Leeds based touring theatre company Red Ladder, which receives a 20 per cent cut.

Those who are receiving more money than previously include Pilot Theatre in York, Slung Low Theatre Company in Leeds and Faceless Theatre Company in Wakefield - the final two of those will now receive regular funding from the Arts Council for the first time.

Around 1,300 theatres, galleries and arts groups applied for funding under the new regime imposed after the government spending review cut Arts Council England’s (ACE) annual grant by around £100 million.

ACE announced today 695 organisations had been successful in their applications for funding from 2012 to 2015, including 110 new groups.

But that is down on the 849 organisations funded under the old regime.

Of the groups that previously received funding and continue to do so, more than 300 face a cut in real terms in their grants.

Dame Liz said: “This is about a resilient future for the arts in England. We have taken the brave path of strategic choices not salami slices which has meant some painful decisions, and it is with great regret that we have to cease funding some good organisations.”

Among the groups getting funding are City Arts in Nottingham, Battersea Arts Centre in London and the Burnley Youth Theatre.

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the government had “worked hard” to ensure long-term financial viability of the arts.

He added: “That includes minimising the impact on frontline arts organisations, cutting back on admin costs, increasing the amount of Lottery funding going to the arts, and increasing the amount of private finance invested in arts and culture.”

A recent report published by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee said the cuts and reductions in spending by local authorities formed a “double-whammy” for the arts.