‘Removing investment from world-class Bristolian organisations is short-term thinking’

Leaders of Bristol arts organisations and unions have criticised the council’s “deeply flawed and destabilising” proposals to cut their funding.

Bristol Old Vic, Watershed, St George’s, the Wardrobe Theatre, Saffron Records and MAYK are among the 14 cultural organisations in the city not recommended for council investment from April 2024.

Under the plans, which are set to be rubber stamped at Bristol City Council’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the larger grants strand will also be reduced by £75,000 per year compared to previous years.

Leaders of organisations affected have acknowledged the pressures on council budgets but questioned the Cultural Investment Programme funding process, which was beset by delays.

Bernard Donoghue of Bristol Old Vic argues the decision to remove funding for some of the city’s major cultural organisations is “short-sighted” – photo: Martin Booth

The chair of trustees for Bristol Old Vic argued it’s time to reframe the thinking around investment in the city’s cultural offerings as just that – an investment, criticising the proposals as “short-term thinking”.

Meanwhile, trade union Equity, have slammed the planned cuts, saying they have been made “without thought to the job losses and damage to the sector in the city”.

Cabinet papers state the recommendations “represent a shift in the organisations the Culture Investment Programme funds”, with more of those recommended for funding being “diverse-led”.

The papers added: “Bristol City’s Council’s investment into these organisations over the next four years will help to reach communities who currently do not have equitable access to arts and culture.”

Commenting ahead of the cabinet decision on Tuesday, Kate Yedigaroff and Matthew Austin, the founders of live performance organisation MAYK, spoke of their “huge disappointment” that their council funding won’t be renewed for the next three years.

“We know that there is enormous pressure on local authority budgets. There’s huge pressure on all of us. And it’s demoralising for everyone,” they said.

The pair ackowledged that having funding bids rejected is part of running any kind of charitable or not-for-profit organisation, but that transparency and respect remain vital.

“MAYK’s founders continued: “We think that this process has been deeply flawed and it’s been destabilising.

“Delaying decisions meant that the panel were assessing applications we all wrote at the beginning of 2022, and the world moves fast these days – our plans and the plans of the people they have funded and not funded look very different now. ”

They vowed to continue the work of MAYK, bringing performance makers from across the world to Bristol and animating underused spaces, adding: “We’ll work hard to be part of better collaboration, communication and transparency between our peers and colleagues here. But everyone has to sign up for that.”

Bernard Donoghue, chair of Bristol Old Vic Board of Trustees, said the proposed decision not to renew the theatre’s council funding “will impact the scale and amount of work we’re able to deliver and the local, national and community partnerships we can continue to develop”.

He continued: “The investment made by Bristol City Council into arts and culture looks to have dropped in real-terms, and by a lot when inflation is factored in. You might conclude that is to be expected.

“But we must reframe investment in arts and culture as exactly that: an investment. It delivers not only the well-documented benefits to social value, but also an economic return at a factor much greater than the original investment.”

Donoghue said: “If Bristol wants to maintain its renowned status as a place for world-class arts and culture, it needs to sustain revenue investment in the organisations that can provide the major infrastructure required to deliver those world-class experiences for artists and audiences into the future.

“We get that Bristol City Council has a budget to wrangle. But the decision to remove revenue investment from several world-class and uniquely Bristolian organisations is short-term thinking.”

Donoghue concluded: “Bristol deserves – and needs – a coherent strategy and city-wide vision for arts and culture. One that genuinely reflects the talent in and output of the sector as it is now, one that recognises and embraces the strategic opportunities the sector can bring to the One City strategy. One that frames investment in the sector as a driver of growth, and a major reason for making Bristol a city of choice for so many people and businesses. Without it, Bristol risks losing a competitive edge at the very moment it needs it most.”

2024-27 funding requests and recommendations will be going to Bristol City Council’s cabinet for approval on Tuesday, December 5 – image: Bristol City Council

Rachael Fagan, Equity’s South West area councillor, said: “These cuts have been made without thought to the job losses and damage to the sector in the city.

“This less than transparent decision making which has been delayed for over 12 months has caused two organisations to close for good and will now put hundreds of jobs in the city at risk now, and over next four years due to this short-sighted strategy.”

Fagan added: “The financial mismanagement, timing of and delay to these decisions will cost the sector, our members and Bristol ‘s cultural heritage dearly.”

A mayor’s office spokesperson said: “All bids to the Cultural Investment Programme were considered by an independent panel. Their recommendations will come to cabinet next week.

“The mayor’s administration are proud to have protected this discretionary, multi-million-pound fund to support our city’s cultural sector, at an increasingly challenging time for local councils across the country.”

Main photo: Meg Houghton-Gilmour

Read next:

• 14 cultural organisations across Bristol could no longer receive council funding 
• Multiple factors are behind Cinema de Lux’s closure
• Bristol’s creatives demand end to ‘damaging’ arts funding delay 

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