Arts funding awards announced

Today is the day, finally, for the Arts Council England cuts and funding decisions. Follow it live and let us know how you’ve been affected 11.39am: A statement from The Cholmondeleys & The Featherstonehaughs which has been cut : “We are enormously saddened that the Arts Council did not approve their national portfolio application. It was an incredibly exciting artistic programme planned with strong partnerships and opportunities for participation and education based on, and grown from, the experience of 27 years of existence. We believe in the resilience of the sector and hope that there will still exist space for innovation in the face of these swingeing cuts. The Featherstonehaughs are touring this autumn and we are looking forward to presenting these amazing shows and performers in the UK.” 11.37am: This from Dorchester Festival which gets a 51% increase. Artistic director Sharon Hayden: “Hurray!!!” 11.36am: In Bristol there is standstill funding for the Arnolfini. Director Tom Trevor said: “We are very happy and relieved to hear that Arnolfini has been successful in its bid for National Portfolio funding, and the immediate future is secure. We have been awarded the same level of grant that we received as a Regularly Funded Organisation so, in the context of a cut to ACE of nearly 15%, this is a ringing endorsement of what we do. However I am very conscious that many other arts organisations will not have been successful in their applications, and this is a very difficult day for the arts as a whole.” “Over the past 15 years the arts have experienced a sustained period of growth. Part of this international success story has been the development of a diverse and vibrant ecology of artistic production at all levels, from individual practitioners through to small agencies, mid-scale galleries and up to large national institutions. The measures announced today represent a radical cutting back of this arts ecology, hacking into a rich and complex system which has grown up quite organically. Regardless of how individual organisations have fared, this process has been incredibly damaging, and as of today the cultural landscape has changed dramatically.” “We are also very concerned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s plan to further cut ACE’s administrative costs by 50%. ACE recently completed a major restructuring, which included significant cost savings, and is now implementing a considered national strategy for the future of the arts, which we fully endorse. Further cuts to ACE will undercut and compromise ACE’s capacity to implement and oversee this new strategy, and singularly fails to acknowledge its recent structural review. Beyond its function as a grant-distribution organisation, ACE should play a crucial role in encouraging a rich and diverse creative ecology in this country.” 11.34am: More good poetry news with the Poetry Society awarded £360,000 – a big increase (up from £261,664). 11.28am: Standstill funding for Circomedia in Bristol . Jan Winter Chief Executive Officer, said: “Circomedia has received standstill funding which in addition to the organisational development grant of £445,000 allows us to look forward with confidence. This weekend we will be celebrating 25 years of circus in Bristol with a programme of events, and will be hosting a national Open Space debate on circus in the UK. We are very happy that the circus sector has been recognised in the portfolio decisions, including Ockham’s Razor, Circomedia alumni, with a substantial uplift as well as some new players, and that together we can continue to develop this exciting, vibrant, and innovative art form.” 11.25am: Ledbury Poetry Festival have emailled to say it’s good news. Festival Manager Victoria Patch said: “We are delighted – it means we can continue our preparations for this year’s festival (1 – 10 July) with the confidence that our funding is in place for the next three years. Having a ‘backbone’ of Arts Council support also gives us leverage when applying to other smaller trusts and foundations that we depend on for our continual growth and development.” Since its creation in 1997, Ledbury has become the largest poetry festival in Britain running over a ten day period in July. Hull Truck Theatre has been given standstill funding . Chief Executive Andrew Smaje said: “The news that we have retained our funding is extremely positive – not just for Hull Truck Theatre and its employees, but for the city of Hull and the East Riding. The theatre plays a fundamental role not only in the cultural life of the area, but also in its economy. “Arts Council England’s report provides a ringing endorsement of the fresh artistic vision at Hull Truck, as well as the new business model, which is seeing a greater diversity of plays and artists working for and with the theatre. “A quick snapshot of what Hull Truck is doing today shows just how vibrant and important a creative company it is. In our rehearsal room, Sarah Esdaile is directing a brilliant cast, including Nichola McAuliffe, in the final week of rehearsals for The Lady in the Van, which embarks on a 10-week tour after opening in Hull next weekend. We have hundreds of school pupils in our studio taking part in an education project delivered in association with ONE HULL, a contemporary dance performance in the main theatre tonight, co-productions with Bolton Octagon and Headlong of Miller and Shakespeare playing in Bolton and Cambridge and two Hull Truck touring productions on the road in Derby and Manchester. Hull Truck engages with a huge range of organisations and people from all walks of life, not just here in Hull but across the country. In order to continue to deliver this level of work, it was vital that we retained our ACE funding. “While today’s announcement is positive for Hull Truck, other arts organisations in our region and around the country will be receiving less good news. We join their concern that these cuts will impact significantly on the nation’s creative life. “With Hull City Council cuts of £100,000 about to come into place from next month, we have a major task to build sustainable relationships with corporate funding partners over the next five years. We need this to grow audiences, nurture new talent and create inspirational performances which will cheer us all during difficult times.” 11.19am: Britten Sinfonia has had a £100,000 rise to £416,649 for 2012/13. David Butcher, Britten Sinfonia Chief Executive, said: “We welcome Arts Council England’s positive investment in our work as one of Europe’s leading orchestras. This funding settlement will enable us to continue to develop pioneering artistic plans and to present outstanding concerts and learning projects in our resident cities in the East and South East of England from where we launch an increasingly busy national and international touring programme. “Our Arts Council grant currently makes up 28% of Britten Sinfonia’s funding mix. We have strong support from commercial sponsors and individual givers and are looking to build on these relationships and forge new partnerships in order to further sustain our work.” 11.17am: Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis has given his response. He said: “This is the day when the chilling impact of disproportionate cuts to the arts, imposed by this Conservative-led Government, becomes clear for all to see. Over 500 arts organisations will either lose their funding or suffer cuts. Some will go to the wall. Many will have to increase ticket prices, at a time when people’s incomes are being squeezed, and scale back their work with communities and young people traditionally denied access to cultural opportunities. I fear a return to the 80s and 90s when the arts were for the few, not the many. Jeremy Hunt’s claim to have protected frontline arts organisations has turned out to be all spin and no substance.” 11.15am: Talawa Theatre company gets a funding cut. Pat Cumper, Artistic Director said: “We’re busy putting plans in place to respond to the 22% cut. We live to fight another day!” 11.10am: Sue Jones of Whitstable Biennale sends me this important clarificatory email: “People seem to think that unsuccessful organisations have all lost their funding, tweets are flying…… Which isn’t the case for organisations who weren’t RFOs. We haven’t lost anything. Our status with ACE remains unchanged. The vast majority of organisations who were applying for the first time weren’t successful. But we’re all used to raising funding on a project-by-project basis.” 11.05am: Museums Sheffield has been turned down after applying for £68,000 for its programme of contemporary art. It is one of 206 existing RFO’s which will no longer receive annual ACE funding. Paul Billington, Director of Culture for Sheffield City Council (Museums Sheffield’s largest funder) said: “Sheffield City Council is disappointed to hear about the Arts Council’s decision on funding Museums Sheffield. Museums Sheffield plays an important role in the city’s cultural life and the City Council will continue to support and work with the organisation over the coming year” Nick Dodd, Chief Executive of Museums Sheffield, said: “This is very disappointing news. With Arts Council support Museums Sheffield has helped bring contemporary art to huge audiences over the past few years, including over a million visitors in the last year alone. We are pleased that some of our partners in the city, such as Sheffield Theatres, Site Gallery and Yorkshire Arts Space have been successful and we look forward to continuing to work with them. We’ll now be focussing our energy on seeking out alternative funding sources and opportunities in order to deliver as much as possible of our contemporary art programme in the next few years” 11.01am: Disappointment at Exeter Northcott Theatre – it is not included in the national portfolio programme. It has had a turbulent few years and went in to adminstration last year. The theatre’s statement reads: “The Exeter Northcott Theatre is loved by audiences and artists and is vital to the cultural life of Exeter and Devon. “Audience numbers over the last nine months have been testament to the high regard in which the theatre is held locally and regionally “We have worked hard to provide entertainment and inspiration to our ever increasing and diversifying audience and we know that the appetite for what we do won’t disappear with this news. Having faced adversity before, we believe we are in good shape to do so again but these are challenging times. “We will now take a period of time to reflect and plan for the future with our remaining stakeholders, the University of Exeter and Exeter city council; difficult decisions may need to be made and we are grateful for their continuing support. “We would like to remind the public that this cut does not take effect until April 2012; we are very much open for business and with an exciting summer season going on sale this Friday we hope that we will be welcoming you through our doors very soon.” 10.56am: Another new member of the club is Kendal Arts International (KAI) , which creates and directs the Lakes Alive outdoor events programme in Cumbria with Manchester International Arts. It will receive a grant of £890,000 over three years. Julie Tait, the director of Kendal Arts International, said: ” We are delighted to have been awarded national portfolio organisation status from 2012. It is acknowledgement of the quality and potential of our work and, in particular, of the significant impact the Lakes Alive programme has made in just 2 years. “This funding will enable us to start to plan now for the legacy of the programme and for new developments within Kendal Arts International’s work in the future. “It also sends an important signal that the outdoor arts have a vital role to play in this country in making great art accessible to everyone.” 10.50am: There’s been a big increase for Camden Arts Centre. Its director Jenni Lomax, said: “We’re thrilled to get a 30% uplift which represents an endorsement of our risk taking programme working with emerging and lesser know artists. And of course we’re excited about the possibilities this increased investment offers.” 10.41am: Been watching the brilliant behind-the-scenes documentaries about English National Ballet on BBC4? Well ENB are down about 15%. Craig Hassall said this: “The message from government is that the arts should anticipate reduced funding. Whilst this is a disappointment, it also reflects the reality of the current economy. The challenge for English National Ballet is to develop other opportunities for revenue, to extend and nurture partnerships and to re-examine all areas of expenditure.” 10.36am: Matt Peacock a trustee at Streetwise Opera, which is successful , sends this: “We received a settlement of around £100,000 per year for the next 3 years. This isn’t as much as we applied for but with over 1,100 orgs applying and less than 700 successful, hardly any new orgs made it into the core funding pot and many were cut. We’re having muted celebrations since we have a lot of friends in other arts orgs who haven’t been successful.” 10.34am: Surprising news? The Cholmondeleys & Featherstonehaughs dance companies – funding completely cut. 10.32am: Charlotte (Higgins that is) has just tweeted: vis arts in London: ICA down by 42%, but South London Gall up by 107%, Camden arts centre up by 15.6% 10.30am: And the first pronouncements from Dame Liz Forgan, chair, and Alan Davey, chief executive: Forgan 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 had to cease funding some good organisations. But we will still be supporting excellence, exceptional talent and successful risk-taking; helping organisations to get their great work out far and wide; backing strong leadership and cultural entrepreneurialism; supporting resilient organisations that can thrive as well as survive; and encouraging work that really enthuses children and young people – because that’s where it all begins. We have tried to go about this difficult process collaboratively, and with honesty and clarity of purpose. We have been helped enormously by having a 10-year shared vision for the arts, which has focused our minds. Davey, said: There have been some really hard choices as we had so many good applications – more than we were able to fund. In advance of the Spending Review, we said “cut us, don’t kill us”. Well, with the help of Lottery income, for which we are grateful, we’re alive and kicking. But we do regret that we have been unable to fund perfectly good organisations, and I know this will be taken hard by those affected. After a thorough process, we believe we have achieved a balance of continuity and change, and of local and national. And we’ve enabled artists and arts organisations to continue to create the great art from which so much springs. This is a collection of decisions that will mean the arts will not retreat from the important part they play in our national life. 10.24am: The Arts Council have released their first statement. Bullet points are: • Reduced grant in aid budget (down 14.9%) in context of wider public sector cuts • Arts Council cuts strategically – no ‘equal cuts for all’ • National portfolio of 695 organisations replaces previous RFO portfolio of 849 • 110 new organisations brought into the mix • Focus on excellent organisations and exceptional individual talent, with decisions shaped by a 10-year vision for the arts • Touring receives major support with £18 million Lottery a year earmarked for portfolio organisations • £10.5 million Lottery a year also targeted at work with children and young people, to ensure vital educational work continues • Extra £12 million Grants for the arts Lottery money freed up for small organisations • Regret as good applications turned down, including 206 existing regularly funded organisations 10.22am: The Photographer’s Gallery in London is getting an increase. They released this statement: “The Photographers’ Gallery is delighted with today’s announcement that Arts Council England will increase the Gallery’s funding for 2012 – 2015. We are grateful for this exceptional financial support in this challenging round of government funding for the Arts. This level of funding is especially important for us as this year represents an exciting new milestone in our 40 year history, as we will be reopening our transformed Gallery in Central London this Autumn with three dedicated galleries, a floor for educational learning and of course our beloved Bookshop, Print Sales and Café. “The continued support from Arts Council England allows us to deliver our vision through our world-class programme welcoming around 450,000+ visitors annually to see, hear, enjoy and think about photography – one of the most important and accessible visual mediums of our time. We look forward in continuing to work in partnership with Arts Council England, helping to deliver its 10-year vision of ‘Great Art for Everyone’.” 10.20am: And a yes for Spark children’s arts festival in Leicester. 10.19am: Another no, this from Megan Vaughan of Metro Boulot Dodo: We’re very disappointed with today’s decision. Metro Boulot Dodo were awarded regular funding in 2008 to support the innovative and inclusive work we’ve made for audiences since 1997, and it has enabled us to build strong relationships and collaborations with artists across the East Midlands, supporting a vibrant arts community from our hub in Leicester. It is a sad state of affairs when we are creating work in Singapore and Spain but do not receive support from our own Arts Council for all the projects we do in the UK. 10.16am: There are going to be a lot of no’s today. If you remember 1,333 groups applied and about 750 will be successful. Youth arts training company, Surrey based Peer Productions have been unsuccessful in their bid. Co-artistic director Nina Lemon tells me: “Whilst we are disappointed with the news, as an organisation who have never received core ACE funding, so we are no worse off than before we made the application. Particularly for smaller organisations, it is a difficult time to apply for long term funding. Many relationships with local authorities and other partners are in a state of flux as they too respond to national cuts and new initiatives. As a social enterprise we earn 60% of our income and we will be looking to other grant making bodies, trust and foundations as well as private philanthropists and businesses to ensure that we can continue to deliver our high quality arts educational projects.” 10.14am: A big increase for the Maltings Theatre, Berwick going up from £42,144 to £175,200 in 2012-13, £179,405 in 2013 – 14 and £184,069 in 2014 – 15. Dr Miles Gregory, Chief Executive of the theatre, said: “We are obviously pleased that Arts Council England recognise the significant improvements that we have delivered over the last two years. We realise though that other organisations in our region may not have been successful, and there will be a need for arts organisations to work together to minimise the impact of cuts to arts budgets across Northumberland. “The Maltings will have much work to do over the coming years, and there will be serious challenges ahead as our organisation grows considerably. But today’s news is a wonderful result for The Maltings and the communities we serve. “I would like to pay tribute to the Board, staff and volunteers at The Maltings, who have worked so hard over the last few years to transform the way The Maltings operates. We can be justly proud of our theatre in this town.” Charlotte Higgins , who is at Arts Council England headquarters in Westminster this morning, sends this: I’m at Great Peter Street, the ACE HQ, scanning the figures. This is after a very quick glance: Aldeburgh music is 9.3% cut, a surprise (though it’s a successful, and hopefully very sustainable, organisation), but DanceEast, its neighbour, 27.1% raised. Nearby, Norwich and Norfolk festival is a big winner at 87% rise. Orchestras on the whole being cut by 11-15% – this goes for LPO, London Sinfonietta, LSO, Philharmonia. Almeida theatre is a big loser – down by 39% – but its neighbour to the immediate east, Arcola, goes up by 82.1%, and to the south the Barbican goes up by an amazing 108%. Some interesting winners in literature – English PEN up by 190% Big national organisations: ENO is down by 11%, ENB by 15%, Royal Opera by 15%, National theatre by 14.9% Visual arts: mima, in the northeast gets a 143% boost. New members of the portfolio include: Academy of Ancient Music Gecko theatre HighTide festival theatre Clod ensemble Innovative, small-scale theatre gets a boost: FUEL producers are up by 203.9%; Ockham’s Raxor up by 173.2%; Punchdrunk (not so smallscale any more) up by 141% Lots of boost for dance: Greenwich dance agency, for example, up by 42.6% . 10.04am: Sad news from my home county, Northumberland Theatre company has been completely cut. They tour nationally. Will try and find out what next for them. 10.00am: Artsdepot in North Finchley, which had its funding brutally and suddenly removed by Barnet Council – a 100% cut of £194,000 for the only professional arts venue in the borough – has at least had cheering arts council news. They’ve got £300,000 this year, down 6% from this year, but they are just relieved. 9.56am: Forced Entertainment have been given standstill funding. Its artistic director Tim Etchells said: “We’re pleased that our commitment to artistic excellence and innovative practice combined with sound management has been recognised by Arts Council England. With ACE’s support and that of our other partners we can continue to excite and challenge audiences in the UK and elsewhere. We have a strong sense of how fortunate we are to receive this funding given that the demands of central government for cuts at any price will devastate the British arts scene. We feel that the government cuts – to the arts and to other vital areas of social provision – are both destructive and ideologically motivated. Cuts for the arts are particularly short-sighted given that the recent commitment to funding and development has made British culture the envy of the world and an industry which enjoys a sizable return on investment.” 9.54am: Eastern Angles in Ipswich get standstill funding. “Good news,” they say. 9.53am: Charnwood Arts in Loughborough have been successful getting £131,000, rising to £137,500 in 2014-15. CEO Kevin Ryan said: “We are happy and relieved by this outcome but sad that our uplift for the Writing Industries Network was not supported. Nevertheless, the acknowledgement of the quality and strength of the WIN programme gives us confidence that we will find the support that we need. But on balance we are extremely happy with the decision!” 9.51am: Barnsley Civic is fine. They are not getting what they asked for but are getting an increase. They’re happy. 9.50am: English Touring Opera is getting an increase in funding . It says: £1,577,015 in 2012/13, rising to £1,819,244 in 2014/15 from Arts Council England. This represents an overall increase in funding of 9% in 2012/13, compared with the Regularly Funded Organisation grant received in 2011/12 (£1,440,196) and will enable ETO to sustain its current level of activity. From 2013/14, the increase in support from ACE will enable ETO to increase its programme of activity across the UK. 9.48am: More positive circus news as it’s a yes for Jacksons Lane in north London . Artistic director Adrian Berry says: “This will enable us to continue to support, produce and develop new contemporary circus and visual theatre in North London and support exciting artists and companies all over the country. It is also a sound acknowledgement by ACE of the innovative work being produced by circus artists.” 9.46am: Another update from Steve Morris in the south west: Tense and early start” for artistic director Philip Wilson at the Salisbury Playhouse. But here’s its statement: Salisbury Playhouse is delighted that Arts Council England will continue to fund the organisation at a similar level to its current commitment, through until 2015, as part of the National Portfolio Funding Programme. As an arts and educational charity, and a nationally recognised producing theatre, last year Salisbury Playhouse’s work reached over 114,000 people through its productions and community activities. It also contributed more than £9 million into the local economy. This agreement means that the first year (2012/13) will see funding at an equivalent level to 2011/12, with an increase of 2.5% in Years 2 and 3. Salisbury Playhouse will now be able to plan across the next four years with confidence, and actively pursue new partnerships. This announcement also strengthens the financial stability of the organisation, which will help attract additional funding to enable the creation of new areas of activity. 9.44am: Bristol’s Spike Island is another winner. Anna Searle emails: Spike Island is pleased to announce that it has been included in Arts Council’s National Portfolio. The Arts Council grant to Spike Island for 2012-13 has been set at £152,847, with inflationary increases over the following two years. This follows a major grant of £223,000 for Organisational Development awarded two weeks ago. Spike Island is grateful for the continued support of Arts Council England in spite of government funding cuts. Spike Island plays a national role in the development of artists’ practice and is a model for the provision of mixed workspace. Its 80,000 square foot building houses one of Europe’s largest studio complexes, providing subsidised studios and workshops for over ninety artists and low cost workspace for a wide range of designers, arts organisations and other creative businesses, leading to a dense arts ecology. It contains the South West’s largest gallery space, designed by architects Caruso St John and opened to the public in 2007. Since then it has presented a critically regarded programme of exhibitions, talks and events. The Associates scheme offers peer support and professional development for artists, designers, curators and writers, while Spike Design provides low cost working space, networking opportunities and business advice for creative startups. Spike Island’s income is largely self-generated: it currently raises approximately 78% of its running costs, with just 22% being derived from public funds. It has a diverse mix of income sources and is actively working to further increase funds, in particular from trusts and foundations, philanthropic sources and space hire. Director Helen Legg says, “It’s positive news that Spike Island has been included in the National Portfolio though we deeply regret the loss of funding to so many others across the country. The next few years will be difficult for the arts and it is critical that City Councils maintain their support for the arts and that the government introduces tax breaks in order to encourage philanthropy.” 9.41am: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has had good news with standstill this year and small uplift thereafter. 9.38am: Colette Bryce emails: Poetry London, the literary magazine, has received funding. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for all our fellow poetry organisations. 9.36am: Outdoor performing arts company Nutkhut has been successful. 9.34am: Sue Jones, director of Whitstable Biennale, tells me they were unsuccessful. She adds: We had good feedback on everything – except a weakness in funding, which is true I would guess for a lot of organisations who weren’t already RFOs (like us) and raise all funding on a project by project basis. Ultimately, ‘other organisations fit better into the national picture’. Whitstable Biennale has gone from strength to strength over the last five years, raising project-by-project funding, and we will continue to do so……. 9.32am: London-based mimbre has had an increase in funding. General manager Emma Forster said: mimbre are overjoyed and slightly humbled to announce that we will be part of the Arts Council England’s new National Portfolio, securing our funding until 2015 at £125,000 plus an inflationary increase. We are of course delighted but remain very concerned about the impact the cuts are going to have on the sector at large. We hope that all the organisations who have received good news this morning will be willing to share their skills and expertise with the wider arts community to help ensure its continued health, as best as we can with newly limited resources. It’s sobering to remember that despite many pieces of good news this morning, a huge number of people are going to be losing their livelihoods and the chance to share their passions as a result of the cuts as a whole. The arts are naturally resilient: in one form or another they will grow. Nonetheless, the cuts will have a significant (and for now, painfully degrading) impact. At the risk of being political, they are a bitter pill to swallow when other sectors, directly tied up in the current financial crisis, are by contrast receiving bonuses. 9.29am: FutureEverything, the Manchester festival of digital culture, is a winner. General manager Joanne Wain said: “Like many arts organisations we are a very small team delivering on an ambitious scale, and the security of this funding allows us to plan ahead with confidence. We’re also pleased that FutureEverything was rated strongly across many areas of our bid; the perfect morale-booster for us as we gather steam toward this year’s event in May!” 9.27am: Zinc, which says it is the largest disabled-led arts organisation in England and has had arts council funding for 16 years has been turned down. Zinc Chair, Annette Bennett said this: “Decisions such as this one mean that there is less money being invested in supporting some of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society to engage in the arts and to lead a rewarding and fulfilling cultural life. In difficult economic times it is even more important to invest in creating opportunities that will provide these groups with the chance to develop new skills, create excellent art and benefit from pathways to employment and supported employment through artistic and creative activities.” Chief Executive, Jeff Banks said this: “We understand the difficult decision that the Arts Council has had to make this year with a reduced operating budget but have been very fortunate to have been in receipt of funding from ACE for over 16 years and we are very grateful for their invaluable support to our organisation over that period of time”. 9.23am: John Harte, general manager of Aurora Orchestra, emails with good news: We’ve had excellent news this morning at Aurora Orchestra: ACE has decided to bring us into the National Portfolio with a grant of £60k annually, as requested. We’re all thrilled at the possibilities this opens up for bringing orchestral music to new audiences over the coming years. 9.22am: It was a no for Salt Publishing in Cambridge. Director Chris Hamilton-Emery says: Sadly, Salt didn’t succeed in its bid for Arts Council funding. We fully intend to take our innovative publishing programme forward by increasing our book sales with the continued support of the tens of thousands of customers who have bought Salt’s books over the past decade. We’re very grateful to the Arts Council for the support they’ve given us in the past. 9.20am: London-based Kali Theatre Company are another which has been successful. 9.17am: Dash Arts have joined the portfolio. Josephine Burton emails: Along with the 2 Olivier Awards for Dash’s co-commission of Babel (premiere at Sadler’s Wells in May 2010), last week’s announcement of the UK premiere of our theatre production of One Thousand and One Nights at the Edinburgh International Festival this August (http://www.eif.co.uk/1001) and the fact that Dash Arts was shortlisted last week for the British Arab Awards for Culture and Society 2011 along with AL Jazeera English and Delfina Foundation (http://www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/what-we-offer/awards/arab-british-culture-society-award-2011 ), we heard today that Dash Arts has joined the Arts Council’s portfolio of regular funded organisations, receiving £277,000 over three years. Masses of good news. 9.15am: Leicester Print Workshop (visual arts) gets an increase. 9.14am: This tweet from Firstsite (visual arts) which got £617,000 in 2011/12: Add @firstsite to the list of relieved arts orgs this morning. 9.12am: An uplift in funding for Oldham Coliseum . 9.11am: Good news for the London mime festival – an uplift in funding. But director Helen Lannaghan says: We’ve had good news – confirmation of an uplift in funding for 2013-15 for the London International Mime Festival. It’s bittersweet when so many others aren’t doing so well… 9.09am: Alex Byrne, artistic director of the successful Cambridge based NIE-Theatre company, responds to Bev Adams earlier email and says this: I totally empathise with her sentiments – I have spent the last 10 years creating and developing NIE and shaped my life around it (and put my family through hell at some points). The last weeks of waiting have been a real strain and the uncertainty has had a big impact on planning. We became and RFO in the last round (08/09). This morning we got the news that we will continue in ACE funding as part of the new NPO scheme – this is great news and means that we can continue to develop and share our work with more people. I guess over the course of the morning we will see the fuller picture emerge. It will be real pity if this very dynamic and successful part of the economy is punished because of failures elsewhere. 9.06am: Further to the Bristol news, this from the Guardian’s south west reporter Steve Morris: Relief and excitement at Bristol Old Vic. They will receive a “standstill grant”. “Good news for us and good news for Bristol” they say. “In addition we’re excited about a new conversation with ACE about how they support us in developing touring work.” Theatre already busy with today’s work – a coachload of young people from Tiverton High School in Devon has just got off a coach. They are performing here tonight as part of the National Theatre’s Connections Festival to encourage young performers. 9.04am: Bristol Old Vic are getting standstill funding. 9.03am: Poor old Forest Forge in Hampshire have just been on Radio 5. They get £117,000 this year, but nothing from 2012. 9.01am: Yorkshire Dance has been given quite a large increase, up from around £185,000 to £323,600. Antony Dunn says: While we are very pleased to receive this offer, and very grateful to Arts Council England for this recognition of the value of our work across Yorkshire, we wait anxiously for news from our partners and other dance organisations across the region and nationwide. 8.58am: 2021 Visual Arts in Lincolnshire is now a National Portfolio Organisation, they tweet. 8.55am: Locus+, the Newcastle-based visual arts commissioning agency that has worked with artists such as Mark Wallinger, Fiona Banner, Douglas Gordon, Anya Gallacio etc, has had its funding confirmed and an inflationary uplift over the next 3 years. 8.53am: Mike Roberts, director of pyrotechnic arts group The World Famous , is disappointed. He was told by the arts council: “Other organisations fitted better into the national picture.” 8.50am: Theatre company New International Encounter have retained funding. 8.47am: Lots of my colleagues will be posting and tweeting today. Follow their tweets here . 8.46am: London-based Tete a Tete are happy with their £100,000 plus inflation settlement. 8.43am: East Midlands based participatory community theatre company Hanby and Barrett has been unsuccessful. Andy Barrett says: We know that the work we produce is well thought of by ACE and so we’re in the same position as before, running project by project which can be totally exhausting. 8.41am: Studio Voltaire and Intoart, mentioned earlier, got £70,000. 8.40am: Oops, when I said Circus Arts had been successful, should have said Greentop Circus had been successful. Read about them here 8.38am: East London based theatre company ATC is a winner. Its executive director Nick Williams says: ATC has been fortunate enough to have been offered National Portfolio funding to continue its work touring contemporary international drama around the UK. A small reduction on what was requested but manageable all the same of around 4% less than asked, which cancels inflationary increase request but permits an increase all the same. Perhaps this is a sign of a more coherent approach to touring? 8.35am: This tweet from Rosehill Theatre in Whitehaven: We’ve only went and gone and got our ACE Funding!!! Couldn’t be happier! 8.33am: Studio Voltaire and Intoart , a joint application, become one of the 100 or so (estimated) new national portfolio organisations. 8.29am: Circus Arts, which provides circus training across the north of England, say they have received an increase in funding. Craig Gamble Pugh says: This is an incredible step forward for Circus Arts and arts education in the relatively underserved northern regions. 8.26am: Phoenix Dance in Leeds tweet that they’ve retained funding with an 11% drop. 8.21am: Of course a villain is always needed. Here’s what the Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts thinks this morning. This morning, the Arts Council of England will announce cuts to orchestras, galleries, theatres and festivals. Stand by for a performance worthy of bad Greek tragedy, peppered by Left-wing breast-beating about ‘broadening access’. There will be keening and caterwauling on an epic scale. ‘Woe is us!’ the corduroyed luvvies will chorus, taking their lead from the Arts Council’s bossy Brunnhilde of a chairman, Dame Liz Forgan. 8.18am: Pilot Theatre has been told it’s getting more money. This year it gets £260,000. Next year it will get £327,500. Read Marcus Romer’s blog here . 8.14am: Arts groups will be hearing the news up until 9.30am. Heard yet? Email me at mark.brown@guardian.co.uk 8.10am: Another summer-upper. This tweet from @True_Lizzy_King: . 8.07am: Within seconds of me posting Bev’s email comes news that Faceless has been successful . They’re getting £60,000 with an inflationary increase each year. They’re getting national portfolio money plus Grants for Arts money. Bev says: The decision is effectively standstill to us in real terms, but we are hugely relieved as it stabilises us for another three years. 8.03am: To say there were a few sleepless nights last night is an understatement – so much depends on today’s announcements. Bev Adams, the artistic director of Wakefield-based Faceless (which does outdoor performance and community arts) summed it up in this email to me last night: I feel like I am waiting in a hospital for a doctor to tell me whether or not a good friend is going to pull through. The company which I founded 20 years ago, with £50, as a 2nd year undergraduate is like a good friend. It has kept me in employment for the past 20 years. It is all I have ever done. The company sustains my family and has sustained numerous other artists and their families. My company employs the full time equivalent of 4 people all committed to increasing access to the arts for disadvantaged communities and marginalised people. We are not completely reliant on Arts Council England for our income. Like most Arts Organisations, we juggle a budget of earned income and project specific grants. In fact, we have only had some regular or core cost funding for the past five years. Core cost funding stabilised our business, it evened out our cashflow, enabled us to plan ahead and to make decisions about the work we took on – for its intrinsic value to the artform and for the benefits of the communities we serve. As Government cuts bite deeper, we need our Arts Council more. In the past year, we have seen our earned income shrink and we soon came to realise that the earned income (of which we were so proud) was just recycled public money anyway in the form of a commission from a local authority or a local voluntary group who had raised some funds of their own. If the decision is negative for us, it takes us back to how we were working 10 years ago – freelance artists working on a project by project basis. Our organisation will shrink from four full time posts to just two artists – myself and my co-director. This scares the hell out of me. I am a mid-career arts professional and I am the sole breadwinner in my household. So, tomorrow is a sad day of reckoning. Unfortunately, like with most of the other ConLibDem cuts, it is the wrong people that are being reckoned. Artists contribute to society in so many ways. We have proven our economic and our contributions to social wellbeing. With fewer artists we will have a broken and not a big society. 7.56am: Well it’s here – the day hundreds of arts organisations have been dreading. Today they find out what money Arts Council England will give them for the three years between 2012 and 2015. I’ll be here all day bringing you news and reaction to what the arts council itself has called “the biggest change to arts funding in a generation”. Here’s the context. The DCMS announced last year that the money it gives to ACE would drop by 29.6% over four years, going down from £452m to £350m. But it also said that front line funding could only go down by 15% and the arts council would have to reduce its administration costs by 50% over the four years. The arts council straight away imposed a 6.9% cut on all the 850 regularly funded organisations which get money and announced plans for a brand new national portfolio. The money for that is being given out today. They are taking the opportunity to shake things up. To bring in new organisations which they believe merit public funding. But that, of course, means many organisations will lose money altogether. A total of 1,333 organisations have applied. An estimated 750 will get money. Will any of the big ten lose money? The Royal Opera House , for example, got £26.3m in the 2011/12 settlement. The Southbank Centre got £19.3m. The National Theatre got £18.3m. What about the next tier down? The Baltic in Gateshead got £2.1m. The ICA in London got, in 2011/12, £1.3m. The Theatre Royal Plymouth got £1.2m. What about those organisations hammered by local authority cuts? Artsdepot in North Finchley, for example, had its Barnet council funding cut by 100% or £194,000. So will the £300,000 it gets from the arts council be increased or decreased? And then there are the minnows. Groups like Theatre Hullabaloo based in Darlington, for example, which produces theatre for kids. This year it gets £150,000. Decisions are being emailled this morning with a full list released at 10am. Have you already heard? Are you a winner or a loser? Has the process been fair? Let me know: email me at mark.brown@guardian.uk , tweet @culture_cuts or leave a comment. Arts funding Public sector cuts Arts policy Mark Brown guardian.co.uk

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