Grant funding boost for key arts venues

There was good news for Chichester Festival Theatre and the Pallant House Gallery when councillors recommended a one-year extension to their grant funding agreement.

The agreement – £187,500 for the theatre and £130,000 for the gallery – is in place until March 2022 and was due to be reviewed.

But at a meeting of the cabinet last Tuesday (January 5), members were told, due to the impact of Covid-19, Arts Council England had extended its own funding to the venues – and they agreed to do the same.

Roy Briscoe, cabinet member for community services and culture, said: “Securing funding for an additional year will enable the theatre and gallery to continue to support the local economy and extend the work they do with the community and targeted groups for the long recovery from the lockdowns as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The review of the grants will still happen and a number of questions were raised.

Tony Dignum, cabinet member for growth, place and regeneration, said there was a case for a ‘thorough examination’ of the grants and the council needed to be a ‘critical friend’.

He raised the salary levels being paid by the theatre and wanted ‘much clearer evidence’ of what community benefits they brought.

He and others agreed that to hold a review now and potentially pull the funding at short notice would be unfair – though Simon Oakley (Con, Chichester East) warned the council had to be ‘very careful’ about how it spent public money.

There was a suggestion from Alan Sutton, cabinet member for housing, communications, licensing and events, that the review should consider whether some of the profits made by the theatre could be ‘clawed back’ into the community.

Looking at the benefits of supporting the theatre, Mr Dignum pointed out evening charges introduced at the neighbouring Northgate car park had brought in roughly the same amount of money as was paid out on the grant.

Susan Taylor, cabinet member for planning, hit back at previous accusations that supporting the theatre and gallery was ‘elitist’, pointing out the theatre had a nationwide reputation which brought people – and their money – to Chichester. On top of this, Mr Briscoe said the venue generated around £23.5m for the district in 2019/20.

The final word will go to full council on January 19.