Four losers and three winners as funding cuts announced

The Architecture Centre Network and four other architecture bodies have lost their ongoing Arts Council funding.

It is the second blow to the sector in short succession following the scrapping of Cabe, which was another key source of funding.

Job losses and programme cut-backs could follow the Arts Council’s announcement unless the organisations manage to attract alternative income, said Bridget Sawyers, chief executive of the network.

The organisations, which had applied for funding until 2015, have all been given money for a year, which they insist will give them enough time to find new donors.

But Victoria Thornton, director of Open City, said: “The announcement means less than half the architecture centres will now be funded by the Arts Council. We were already a very small element in their portfolio. There’s a concern about who exactly is supporting architecture.”

As well as the Architecture Centre Network, the other losers are: the Building Exploratory Centre in Hackney, Beam in Wakefield, Made in the West Midlands and Open City’s public art programme.

But there was good news for the Architecture Foundation, Northern Architecture and Architecture Centre South West which will be funded until at least 2015.

Their 2012-15 settlements are as follows:

•             The Architecture Centre, Bristol (£54,250 on average per year). A cut of 2.3%, or 11% adjusted for estimated inflation.

•             The Architecture Foundation, London (£107,000 on average per year). A cut of 2.3%, or 11% adjusted for inflation.

•             Northern Architecture, Newcastle (£50,000 per year). An increase of 12.5%, or 2.5% adjusted for inflation.

 

Postscript:

See this week’s BD for more details.