ENO secures ACE funding for 'one year’s reprieve'

The English National Opera (ENO) has today confirmed that negotiations with Arts Council England (ACE) have resulted in the promise of £11.46m of National Lottery funding for the next financial year.

This decision follows over two months of outrage from the classical music sector in response to the ACE’s 2023-26 funding announcement in November 2022 which revealed a fall in funding for organisations including Welsh National Opera, Britten Sinfonia and the ENO, as well as requiring the ENO to move out of London to receive funding. This prompted protest both in person and via social media, including a petition started by Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel.

The new funding agreement will enable the ENO to continue its outreach initiatives ENO Breathe and Finish This. In a statement released today the organisation cautiously welcomed the result, saying: ‘This level of funding will allow us to honour many of the contracts of the hundreds of freelancers we hire every year, and enable us to continue to make incredible opera available for everyone, in English, with hugely subsidised tickets.’

However, the new sum promised by the ACE still leaves the ENO with less funding than in previous years, representing a 9% cut from the company’s previous funding. The agreement is also only one year long and, according to today’s statement, ‘still leaves a huge amount of uncertainty regarding the ENO’s future.’

The new agreement will come into force in the next financial year, starting 1 April. The ENO has said this delay has necessitated changes in its upcoming season including the postponement of new productions. Citing its ongoing confusion at the ACE’s original decision, the ENO has called on the ACE to develop an ‘opera strategy in conversations with audiences and our colleagues across the industry’.