Council plans £500k art fund after government cash boost

Suffolk County Council (SCC) has put forward plans for a new £500,000 arts fund just weeks after proposing a complete financial cut to its cultural support programme.

Announcing its intention to create a “funding pot” open to all arts and heritage organisations in the county, SCC said it will still go ahead with plans to discontinue £528,000 of core funding for nine arts and heritage organisations after 2024/2025.

Councillors said the U-turn on investment in the sector was made possible following the unveiling of a £600m government support package designed to help local authorities cover the increasing cost of social care. SCC estimates it will receive £7.2m due to the extra investment.

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“We have been adamant since starting our budget proposals that we would seek opportunities to support the arts and heritage sector.

“The recent government announcement has presented us with such an opportunity,” said Bobby Bennett, the council's Cabinet Member for Equality and Communities.

The council previously said that the move to defund nine local arts organisations was necessary because its finances have been hard hit by inflation and rising demand for social care services. Five of those affected are Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations: New Wolsey Theatre, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Eastern Angles Theatre Company, DanceEast, and First Light Festival.

It’s understood that the council intends for recipients of the new project fund to be involved in looking after the health and well-being of local residents, particularly those needing extra support.

Bennet explained how the new fund would differ from the existing scheme: “There are many diverse and exciting arts and heritage groups in the county, delivering amazing work in their local communities who would all have an equal opportunity to bid to help fund their projects. Together, we would enable more early interventions for Suffolk people who might need some support.

“Should this proposal get the green light, we will continue to work with organisations across the sector to help us shape how the fund is set up.”

'Significant challenges remain.'

The local Government Association has cautioned that the extra money from the government will likely "not be enough" to prevent funding reductions to non-essential services such as arts and culture due to the estimated funding gap of £1.6bn in 2024/25 that councils are facing.

Despite this, Suffolk County Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Environment, Councillor Richard Rout, said the support package “enables us to make [the] welcome proposal of new project funding for Suffolk’s arts and heritage organisations.

“However, given the wider pressures we face caring for the most vulnerable individuals in Suffolk, we must still take a considerable amount of money from our reserves to balance our budget,2 he added.

"That simply cannot continue. On top of this, there are still millions of pounds that we need to save in the coming years. Like all county councils with responsibilities for key services that look after those most in need, we are not out of the financial woods; significant challenges and difficult decisions still remain.”

'It’s not core funding'

SCC's apparent U-turn on cultural funding has been met with criticism from some councillors and arts leaders. “It’s not good enough – but it’s better than nothing," Green Party councillor Robert Lindsay told Suffolk News, “It’s not core funding; it’s a new pot that arts bodies will have to beg for, and there will be no certainty for them.”

Douglas Rintoul, the Artistic Director of New Wolsey Theatre, also expressed concern over the changes. Writing on X, he said there was "Lots to celebrate here, but…it is still the removal of core funding. "

He continued: "While I appreciate the steps taken, the £500k in real terms is still a significant disinvestment in culture in Suffolk after over a decade of cuts and no inflationary increase, and many brilliant organisations deserved funding before.

"My learning from all of this is that the intrinsic value of arts and heritage in creating vibrant communities needs continuous advocacy. We must push for sustained support and prioritise funding for these essential elements of our society."

The proposals are set to be discussed at an SCC cabinet meeting on 30 January. At the same time, a previously scheduled Equity protest is also due to go ahead outside the council offices at Endeavour House.

Equity Official for the East of England and trade union organiser Iain Croker said, “This is not a U-turn at all; in fact, it is more like a diversion.

“Encouraging multiple bids for many different arts projects simply means the cake has got smaller and cut into even more pieces. What happens when this one-time pot of money runs out?

"This is not the same as a long-term commitment to arts funding which supports SEND workshops, theatre in schools, discounted tickets for poorer households, and much more.

“It might work to complement the core funding already in place for the nine organisations across Suffolk but it makes the possibilities of securing a stable financial future for key arts organisations even more challenging.”