Theatre and art gallery grant funding

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 Chichester District Council’s cabinet, members were told that 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.

Full council was to vote on the issue on Tuesday after the Gazette went to press.