Memorandum submitted by Birmingham City
Council
BACKGROUND
Birmingham City Council operates three grant
funding schemes for the arts: Grants to Major Arts Organisations;
Small Scale Revenue and Project Grants; and Arts in Education
Grants. The former scheme (£5.1 million) aims to provide
consistent funding to the 11 most strategically important arts
organisations in the city. The smaller scale scheme (£150,000)
supports nine small scale companies and around 40 projects each
year. The Arts in Education scheme (£250,000) supports work
by the City's arts organisations in schools. Birmingham Repertory
Theatre received a core grant of £991,165, and an arts in
education award of £14,600 in 2004-05. Other theatre organisations
receiving funding include: Midlands Arts Centre (mac); SAMPAD;
The Drum; Big Brum; Birmingham Stage Company; Women and Theatre;
and Language Alive. The City Council also supported the capital
development of the Hippodrome Theatre. Behind the scenes the City
Council works with theatre organisations through: advice and guidance
on European funding streams; technical support on Lottery applications;
and support of festivals and conferences such as the "Informal
European Theatre Meeting" (IETM) in 2003.
THE PERFORMANCE
OF ARTS
COUNCIL ENGLAND
IN DEVELOPING
STRATEGIES AND
PRIORITIES AND
DISBURSING FUNDS
ACCORDINGLY
The City Council works in partnership with Arts
Council England concerning the shared portfolio of arts organisations,
including the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The partnership approach
is largely informal and consultative, but has proven effective
in considering priorities for investment in the arts. In the absence
of a national capital strategy for the arts this partnership approach
has been helpful in focusing efforts where they are needed. Birmingham
City Council and Arts Council England are currently working closely
together towards assembling a scheme and funding for the redevelopment
of Midlands Arts Centre (mac).
Theatre practitioners first and foremost require
consistency and stability in their funding relationships. Theatre
is a high risk activity where even the most successful theatre
can suffer setbacks at the box office, and funding regimes should
aim to secure theatres finances at a level that an individual
show failing to achieve target does not risk the failure of the
organisation. Strategies and priorities for the disbursement of
funds should give primacy to the core revenue funding partnerships
that sustain most subsidised theatre in England.
SUPPORT FOR
THE MAINTENANCE
AND DEVELOPMENT
OF: THEATRE
BUILDINGS; NEW
WRITING; NEW
PERFORMING TALENT
The challenging artistic policy of the Rep and
other companies in the city means that work has relevance for
almost all age groups and communities in Birmingham. The controversy
surrounding Sikh demonstrations at the theatre masked genuine
achievements in creating theatre that speaks across the city,
supported by outreach and education activity to engage with all
sections of society. The Rep has consciously sought to develop
local talent and new writing and the City Council supports these
efforts. Birmingham is a vibrant multi cultural city that aspires
to also be a vibrant inter cultural centre. This aim means that
organisations such as the Rep must reach out and engage with the
variety of cultures that make up Birmingham today.
THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE
THEATRE AS
A GENRE
(A) WITHIN
THE CULTURAL
LIFE OF
THE UK; (B)
IN THE
REGIONS SPECIFICALLY
AND (C)
WITHIN THE
UK ECONOMY, DIRECTLY
AND INDIRECTLY
In the case of Birmingham Rep extra investment
has translated into better activity and audience figures. The
artistic and economic health of the Rep has also resulted in innovation
on both stages, and in the community and education activities
of the theatre. Of equal importance has been the revival of the
Rep's local reputation with audiences and with decision makers
in the city. The Rep, along with other major arts organisations
in Birmingham, makes a major contribution to the overall cultural
life of the city. The company works into community and education
through Birmingham's ArtSites and Anim8 Local Arts networks, and
provides professionals to work in training and apprenticeship
schemes such as Gallery 37 and Flying Start. The Rep provides
facilities and artists for ArtsFest, England's largest free arts
festival, and has developed three major components of the city's
Urban Culture Programme in 2005-06 (Urban Fusion).
The 2003 Annual Arts Survey in Birmingham measures
the activity and impact of the arts in the city. This was the
fourth survey and was based on over one hundred responses and
excludes commercial and specialist arts activity. There were over
6,500 performances attracting over 1.5 million audience, and over
500,000 attendances at participative activities. Over 1,200 jobs
were directly created by this activity and £1.7 million was
spent on 3,000 freelance artists. Collective turnover was over
£57 million. Birmingham organisations also gave 300 performances
and 1,600 other events and workshops outside the city. Touring
work was seen by 300,000 people.
THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF PUBLIC
SUBSIDY FOR
THEATRE AND
THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE
SUBSIDISED SECTOR
AND THE
COMMERCIAL SECTOR—ESPECIALLY
LONDON'S
WEST END
A large proportion of the public funds invested
in the arts come from Local Government. The Government should
acknowledge and support the value of this support in the criteria
by which a Local Authority is assessed. Similarly a set of positive
outcomes should be identified by which the performance of an individual
theatre can be judged by both Local Government and DCMS. Not enough
is known about the economic benefits arising from theatre activity.
The Local Government Association, DCMS, and Arts Council England
could usefully work together to devise a framework by which the
effect of theatre and arts activity on both the economy and quality
of life, and the outcomes associated with engagement with theatre
and the arts, are judged.
Public funds such as Heritage Lottery funding
are used to help preserve the built heritage of historic venues.
Such schemes could operate in the form of a challenge fund for
the commercial sector, to create incentives for investment.
February 2005
| 
