February 2008

On February 1 details will be announced of the 80 arts organisations who will receive regular funding from Arts Council England, following the publication of the McMaster report Supporting Excellence in the Arts. A further 86 institutions will receive grant increases of 50 per cent or more over the next three years while three quarters of the 990 funded by ACE will receive rises that are at least in line with inflation. The report has been warmly welcomed by Dance UK who have collected responses from many key industry figures including Siobhan Davies CBE, Gill Clarke MBE, Nadia Stern of Rambert Dance Company, Betsy Gregory of Dance Umbrella, Kenneth Tharp chief executive of The Place, Wayne McGregor, artistic director Wayne McGregor/Random Dance, Charlotte Vincent of Vincent Dance Theatre, Shobana Jeyasingh, Julia Carruthers of Southbank Centre, and Farooq Chaudhry, Dance UK Board member and producer Akram Khan Company. Alastair Spalding, chair of Dance UK and chief executive and artistic director of Sadler’s Wells, says “It is fantastic news that there is now a clear focus on excellence, innovation and risk, an attitude that has always been there in the dance sector but not always supported by the infrastructure that surrounds it. I am particularly pleased that the report signals a reconsideration of the value of peer assessment. People will be much more comfortable with decisions that are made if they feel there is some representation by those that have a working knowledge of the sector”. Well said, indeed. For further information see the website danceuk.org. Inevitably there will be protests about the new priorities and already there has been a furious response from Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, and from such threatened respected bodies as The Bush Theatre in London, the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, and London Mozart Players. By our next issue we should have details of the winners and losers in the dance world but the response by Dance UK suggests there is considerable optimism.