Deputy mayors defend decision to cut funding for major arts venues

The two deputy mayors of Bristol have defended a decision to scrap funding for the Watershed and other cultural venues.

Bristol City Council will pay £1.4m in grants over the next few years to several venues, but some will no longer receive funding from April.

As well as the Watershed, other venues which stand to lose out next year include Bristol Old Vic and the Exchange music venue.

Other organisations which will receive grants include the Trinity Centre, Bristol Pride and Tobacco Factory Theatres.

Members of the Equity trade union criticised the funding decision for the cultural investment programme during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

But both the deputy mayors defended the plan, put forward by an independent panel whose membership is unknown.

Asher Craig, deputy mayor for children’s services, education and equalities, said: “It is disappointing to see some organisations criticise the very well considered recommendations made based on applications submitted. It’s staggering that [Equity] think we should be considering the bigger organisations with bars, cinemas and tourist activities.

“As the budget crisis continues to worsen and the government continues to punish local authorities, this situation will only get worse. We are pleased to see new organisations recommended, that represent a real shift in diversity by reaching out to areas of the city that are often missed in grants.”

The cultural investment programme has faced cuts of at least 40 per cent over the past five years, with fewer grants available for venues.

The 2024-27 funding requests and recommendations that went to Bristol City Council’s cabinet for approval on Tuesday – source: Bristol City Council

Equity, which represents performing arts and entertainment workers, condemned the changes and urged the cabinet to reconsider.

Kim Hicks, an Equity member, said: “Thousands of creative people see all their opportunities to work closing, as crucial council funding isn’t just reduced, but completely disappears. The cabinet must rethink this approach before the damage to the cultural sector in Bristol becomes irreparable, as it already has for many groups and individuals.”

But the council is struggling to balance its books, with demand and costs rising for services like social care and temporary housing. Two major cities in England have recently gone bust, with other councils expected to also issue a section 114 notice in the near future.

Craig Cheney, deputy mayor for finance, said: “There’s a £20m overspend the council has, and that’s based on children social care, adult social care and temporary accommodation. Those three things are driving cuts across the council and will continue to do so nationally.

“We’re not alone. Nottingham City Council has just declared bankruptcy, Birmingham City Council has already done, I know of a few other core cities that are struggling at the moment. It would be lovely to live in a world in which arts and culture is not competing for funding with getting disabled children to school or a knock on the door for elderly adults.”

Earlier in the week Stephen Peacock, the chief executive of the council, made a similar warning about the staggering budget pressure on public services in Bristol. He said neither the government nor the opposition appeared willing to solve the crisis in council finance.

During his time in post, Cheney said he had been “managing decline” due to the widening mismatch between rising demand and costs with a real-terms cut in income from the government. He is not standing again in the upcoming local elections in Bristol next May.

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Read more: ‘Removing investment from world-class Bristolian organisations is short-term thinking

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Cheney added: “We are fighting for some of the most vulnerable people in the city, we are making sure all the bins get collected, all the lights are still lit, all the potholes are fixed, and all the green initiatives. Some of it is about making the least worst option sometimes.

“What I have actually had to do is manage a lot of decline, because it has been an awful, awful 13 years of austerity. The recent autumn statement only really confirmed that it’s going to continue for some time. It really is at the arse end of things now, to be frank.”

Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• 14 cultural organisations across Bristol could no longer receive council funding
• Council’s budget facing ‘unprecedented challenges and unsustainable demand’
• ‘Difficult decisions ahead’ to find £3m in order to fund council tax reduction scheme

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