´óÏó´«Ã½

Therese Coffey MP, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, believes the region did not fare too badly in the recent round of cuts to our arts.

"It could have been worse," she tells me. "There have been cuts, there's no doubt, but this has demonstrated that the Arts Council have to support the arts strategically, with the emphasis on quality."

The east's arts organisations now know where the axe is falling on their grants.

The regional Arts Council helped some local arts projects but others had their grants reduced and a few lost them completely.

Overall, there's been a fall of 15% in the sum the Arts Council can handout. Across the eastern region 30 arts organisations are sharing just over £40m over the next three years. Nineteen of them are in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. Three have lost their funding entirely.

In Suffolk there was widespread relief that many of the county's organisations will be receiving some grant, even though others lost out. Dance East's grant increased by 27% to £2.5m over three years. The Wolsey Theatre received the same amount, while the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds faces a cut. Halesworth's Poetry Trust, which runs the Aldeburgh poetry festival, lost its grant completely.

"It is a shame that they missed out," says the Suffolk Coastal MP. "The work they do is
very valuable and it would be a great pity to lose their contribution. I hope a way can be found to continue their work."

The Norfolk and Norwich Festival was a winner with a substantial increase in its grant. The grant to Norfolk's Writers Centre went up by 62% and the Norwich Art's Centre is also getting more funding.

And in Essex the Colchester based Mercury Theatre retained £2.4m but lost £400,000. Dance Digital lost £100,000 but the Arts Centre in Colchester got £600,000 and Firstsite Visual Arts Centre was another big winner, getting £2.5m.

"We simply can't support everything. It would be lovely but we do want to make sure quality is targeted," says the Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal.

Many arts organisations are also funded by our local authorities and they are facing a double whammy for the forseeable future.

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• - What's this?