Arts Council England
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Arts Council England announces further Sustain awards and the closure of the programme to new applications
Arts Council England’s Sustain programme, which is helping arts organisations continue to maintain artistic excellence during the recession, will close to new applications on 9 October 2009.
Sustain, which is investing an extra £40 million in the arts over the next two years, has already made 52 awards worth more than £17 million and is likely to have awarded all the funds by November 2009.
A total of 151 applications have been received to date and with applications requesting a further £35 million still under consideration, the decision has been taken to close the fund to new applications at the end of next week.
All applications received up to 9 October will be considered for an award. Sustain awards cover two years, meaning the positive effects of the programme will continue to be felt up to March 2011.
Today the Arts Council also announced its latest round of Sustain awards. The fourth round awards are worth around £4.3 million which will help a further 16 arts organisations continue to work confidently through the economic downturn.
The successful applicants are combined arts, literature, music, theatre and visual arts organisations in London, South West, South East, East Midlands, East, North East and Yorkshire. The awards are:
- Northampton Theatres Trust, £940,000
- Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, £568,000
- Salisbury Playhouse, £400,000
- Northern Stage, Newcastle, £376,000
- National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, £350,000
- Battersea Arts Centre, London, £295,000
- The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury £261,300
- Almeida Theatre Co., London, £175,000
- St George's Bristol, £171,000
- Eastside Educational Trust, London, £150,000
- Camden Arts Centre, £140,000
- Barbican Theatre, Plymouth, £135,300
- Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, £117,700
- The Poetry Trust, Suffolk, £102,000
- Music Beyond Mainstream, North Yorkshire, £94,000
- Arts Depot Trust, London, £84,900
Further details of the awards made and declined are published on the Arts Council England web site here.
Further awards will be announced by early November. All awards from the Sustain fund are one-off and are made to cover the period 2009 – 2011.
Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England said: “Arts Council England’s response to the recession has been fast, effective and unique. The speed at which Sustain’s funds are being awarded is indicative of just how much the fund was needed.
“And there are still big challenges ahead – we need to look beyond the recession to the long term future of the arts in this country and to maintaining and developing their world class quality through continued high levels of public and private investment.”
Arts Council England will now be undertaking a swift and thorough review of Sustain before deciding if further action is needed to support artistic excellence and innovation through the recession and what form it might take.
Notes to Editors:
1. In addition to the awards listed above, Sustain applications from the following organisations were declined:
- Canterbury Festival, South East
- Mind the Gap Ltd, Yorkshire
- Audiences Yorkshire
- Imagineer Productions Ltd, West Midlands
- Beam, Yorkshire
2. For more information on Arts Council England’s action on the recession, including Sustain, go to http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/investment-in-arts/action-recession/sustain/
3. Arts Council England works to get great art to everyone by championing, developing and investing in artistic experiences that enrich people’s lives.
As the national development agency for the arts, we support a range of artistic activities from theatre to music, literature to dance, photography to digital art, and carnival to crafts.
Great art inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves, and the world around us. In short, it makes life better.
Between 2008 and 2011, we will invest £1.3 billion of public money from government and a further £0.3 billion from the National Lottery to create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
