£137 million new funding for the South East
£137 million of new funding has been announced for the South East as we back creativity and culture for more people in more places than ever before.
On 04 November we announced details of the new national portfolio of organisations we will fund from 2023-26. We will distribute £137.2 million to 139 organisations across the South East over the next three years, ensuring that more people will be able to enjoy art and culture in the places where they live.
Of the organisations receiving funding, 52 are new to the portfolio. Many are based in places which have received less cultural funding in the past and where there have been fewer opportunities to access creative and cultural activities.
Those joining our portfolio include visual arts organisation Jelly in Reading, Essex-based The Paper Birds Theatre Company, The Lightbox in Woking, Writing Our Legacy in Brighton, Music 24 in Luton, The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury, 20Twenty Productions in Fenland, The Higgins Bedford (run by Bedford Borough Council), Icon Theatre in Medway, and First Light Festival in Lowestoft.
These organisations will sit alongside others with a longstanding relationship with the Arts Council, as we renew our support for established organisations across the region, such as Brighton Dome and Festival, Cambridge Junction, MK Gallery, Chichester Festival Theatre, DanceEast in Ipswich, The Story Museum in Oxford, Watford Palace Theatre, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Chatham Historic Dockyard, and Colchester Mercury Theatre.
This portfolio sees a continuation and further influx of investment in organisations who bring art and culture to rural communities across the South East, with additional funding awarded to Applause Rural Touring, allowing them to expand their reach beyond Kent and Sussex into Essex, as well as increased investment in Creative Arts East, which will enable them to deliver ‘Silver Social’, a project that will engage older and isolated members of the community in rural Breckland.
Coastal communities will also see increased investment, with £14 million worth of funding per year awarded to seaside-based organisations across the region. In Lowestoft, two organisations have joined the portfolio, The Seagull Arts Centre and First Light Festival. Folkestone similarly adds two organisations, CT20Projects CIC and Screen South. Elsewhere across the South East, Future Foundry in Dover join the portfolio and Out There Arts (formerly The Seachange Trust) in Great Yarmouth is to receive increased investment.
Many organisations in the South East included in this portfolio specialise in bringing great art and culture straight to the heart of the community, repurposing non-traditional arts spaces to increase accessibility and offer unique and unconventional cultural experiences. Examples of joiners to the portfolio include Art Classes Group (who have a space in Slough’s shopping centre), Arts Outburst (who work in everyday spaces such as take-aways, parks, GP surgeries, and schools), Jumped Up Theatre (whose PLATFORM 8 Festival sees performances in pubs, clubs, and cafes throughout Peterborough), and Multi-Story Music (who specialise in presenting live musical performances in multi-story car parks). The work of these organisations plays a vital role in getting people to see the infrastructure of their towns and cities in new and interesting ways as well as increase accessibility, making it easier to see great art and culture wherever you are in the country, reducing the need to travel.
We have increased our investment in places in the South East where cultural investment and opportunity has previously been low. Levelling Up for Culture Places in the region are set to receive an annual investment of £5.6 million. Some of the organisations we will be funding in these areas include Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, Rhiannon Faith Company in Harlow, CoDa Dance Company in Thurrock, Cohesion Plus Kent in Gravesham, Emergency Exit Arts and Lyrici Arts in Medway, The Posh Club in Crawley, Tangled Feet in Luton, Amina Khayyam Dance in Slough, Gorilla Circus in Fenland, and Scottee & Friends in Peterborough.
The number of organisations in the new portfolio creating work for children and young people has also increased substantially. Examples in the South East include new joiners Second Hand Dance in Epsom and Full House Theatre in Bedfordshire. The Carousel Project in Brighton has also received additional funding.
This focus on young people extends into our investment in organisations supporting creative skills, talent development and creative career opportunities in the South East. Collusion, for example, based in Cambridge and Levelling Up for Culture Place Kings Lynn, will see funding for their ‘Art//Tech//Play’ programme, which supports young people into the arts and technology sector. Other examples include Resource Productions in Slough, who specialise in digital media and have a fantastic track record of engaging historically under-represented members of the local community, and Signals Essex Media based in Colchester, who specialise in film education and digital art.
This latest round of funding will also offer a boost to the museums and libraries in the South East, with newly funded Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, the National Paralympic Heritage Trust, St Albans Museums (which is comprised of four sites across the city), and Kent County Council Libraries. In total, libraries and museums will receive £7.5 million a year in the South East.
This eclectic mix of organisations come together to represent our most varied portfolio to date and will engage locally within their communities as well as draw people from further afield, with some organisations touring to other parts of the country. They will create world-leading work that strengthens England’s position as an international centre for the creative industries and offer a fantastic array of artistic, cultural and heritage experiences and opportunities in more places the South East than ever before.
