Arts Council England announces 2023-26 national portfolio

Arts Council England (ACE) has this morning announced the organisations which will join its national portfolio and receive funding from 2023 to 2026. A total of 990 organisations will receive an annual share of £446 million, with 139 of those recipients focused on music.

Major changes to the ACE’s Investment Programme include a transition of funding out of central London through the redistribution of £16 million per year from April 2023. The ACE’s Transfer Programme supports organisations leaving the capital, with 24 successful applicants receiving two years of funding before relocating outside of London by 2024 to receive funding for a third year.

ACE chair, Sir Nicholas Serota, said: ‘None of these organisations are actually being compelled to leave London. We simply invited those that felt that they would be interested in working outside London, from a non-London base, to make an application. 24 have been successful and £8.2 million is going to be made available for them to do just that.’

English National Opera is one of the organisations making the move. The company released a statement this morning, which read: ‘Today’s offer of investment from Arts Council of £17 million over the next three years will allow us to increase our national presence by creating a new base out of London, potentially in Manchester. We plan to continue to manage the London Coliseum, using it to present a range of opera and dance whilst maximizing it as a commercial asset.’

The decrease of funding in London comes at the request of MP Nadine Dorries, who sent a letter to ACE in February of this year, while still in the role of secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport. Outside the capital the arts will see a 95% increase in investment for 78 designated ‘Levelling Up for Culture Places’ (LUCPs) such as outer London boroughs Brent and Croydon, as well as areas including Dudley, Wolverhampton, County Durham, Luton and Gloucester. You can find a full list of LUCPs here.

The Musicians' Union (MU) has ‘heavily criticised’ the decisions released in today’s announcement, releasing a statement which read: ‘While the Musicians' Union supports increased funding for arts organisations outside London, today's announcement reveals a deliberate decision to do this at a direct cost of London-based companies.’

Of a total 1700 applications submitted at the beginning of this year, 990 have been successful. ACE will be supporting organisations who have experienced reductions in their funding in applying to other funding streams as well as restructuring and adjusting their business models.

ACE CEO, Darren Henley, said organisations – like Britten Sinfonia and Psappha Ensemble - which received funding in the ACE’s previous investment programme, but have been removed from the list in this round, will be supported: ‘All organisations will, subject to an application process, have funding visibility for the next 12 months. Everybody is already funded for five months right now, and for those organisations that leave the portfolio, they'll be able to apply for a further seven months of money that will take them through until the end of October 2023.’

All organisations leaving the portfolio can apply for support from the ACE’s Transition Programme. Details can be found here.