The Place (Contemporary Dance Trust Ltd) has been accepted onto Arts Council England’s new National Portfolio funding programme, and granted £5.5million over the three years from April 2012 to March 2015. This funding is 11% less than the £6.1million for which we applied, which would have restored The Place’s funding in cash terms to 2010 levels by 2015.
The funding will help The Place to continue its vital role as the UK’s leading supporter of dance artists and new dance talent, developing enhanced ways of engaging participants and audiences. The Arts Council’s assessment recognised the breadth and quality of our work and the contribution that it makes to national picture of funded organisations.
It will, however, be a significant challenge to fully maintain this with reduced funding, and difficult choices about how The Place prioritises its activities will have to be made in the months ahead.
The Place recognises the challenges that Arts Council England faced in creating its new portfolio with significantly reduced funding from Government. We believed that our plans for 2011-15, which decreased The Place’s reliance on public funding while broadening the impact of our work, were a creative and co-operative response to the changed circumstances in which we will operate.
While disappointed that we may not now be able to deliver our full plans, we are grateful that the Arts Council’s decision validates our approach and underlines the national significance of our role. We know that with our funding award comes additional responsibility to support and develop dance nationally in the difficult years ahead.
Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp, Chief Executive of The Place, said today “Cutting funding for The Place, like all cuts to the arts, threatens the work of artists and the public’s opportunities to engage with it. We are nonetheless grateful for Arts Council England’s ongoing support, and will work with them and our partners in dance – funded and unfunded – to face these threats so that dance in the UK can continue to flourish and thrive”.
For further information, contact Tim Wood, Director of Communications, on 020 7121 1021 or
Editor’s Notes
1) For over forty years, The Place has engaged with audiences and participants, championed the best ideas, and created inspiring conditions for artists and enthusiasts to realise their potential. The Place combines London Contemporary Dance School, Richard Alston Dance Company and the Robin Howard Dance Theatre, together with pioneering learning, teaching, outreach, recreation and professional development projects. From Richard Alston and Siobhan Davies, through Wayne McGregor and Lea Anderson, to Jonzi D and Hofesh Shechter, the leading British contemporary dancers and dance makers of successive generations have been nurtured and championed by The Place. The Place’s work transforms and enriches lives, and shapes where dance is going next.
2) The Place has been granted National Portfolio funding totalling £1,783,648 in 2012/13, £1,824,672 in 2013/14, and £1,872,113 in 2014/15. The Place had applied for Arts Council funding which would have, by 2015, restored cash funding to 2010 levels, while simultaneously reducing reliance on Arts Council funding from 33% to 30% of turnover.
3) In the next seven days, The Place’s work can be seen at performances of Richard Alston Dance Company at New Wimbledon Theatre (Fri 1 April), and at The Place: London Contemporary Dance School students in collaboration with Guildhall School of Music (Wed 30 & Thu 31 March), youth dance company Shift (Thu 31 March). The Finals of the UK’s biggest choreography competition, The Place Prize for dance, sponsored by Bloomberg, take place from Wed 6 – Sat 16 April.