A statement from the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre on Guildford Borough Council’s decision to cut funding to the theatre from April.
The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is deeply disappointed and frustrated to learn that our grant of £310,220 per annum will be cut by Guildford Borough Council to £273k in April this year, with continued cuts over the coming years, reducing the theatre’s funding to £200,000 by 2024/25.
Joanna Read, Director and Chief Executive of the theatre, which is a charity housed in a listed building said: ‘The theatre has just come through the worst period of operation in its history. Thanks to the support of our audiences and the immense efforts of our staff, we are now rebuilding our organisation as pandemic restrictions are lifted. The Covid emergency is not over for the arts and creative industries. The coming year will be extremely difficult for the theatre as live events take time to return to pre-Covid attendance levels. We are projecting a deficit for the theatre in the coming year of £327k; with the Council’s decision this will now increase to £364k. To receive this cut now, this lack of support, at such a critical time, is deeply demoralising.
The Council have pointed to the one-off Cultural Recovery Funds received by the theatre from DCMS (Department for Culture Media and Sport) and Arts Council England as a demonstration of the theatre’s financial health. These were one-off emergency grants used to pay wages and core overheads during the closure periods of the last two years, and losses directly related to Covid. The grants are not ongoing and will not compensate for GBC’s decision last night.
We are very surprised that no mention has been made by the council of the three-year rolling funding agreement the theatre has in place. We had expected any potential cut to be instigated in a manner that might enable us to plan accordingly. To ignore this agreement and unilaterally announce a cut just weeks away from a new financial year is irresponsible.
A recent economic impact study undertaken by the University of Surrey showed the theatre brings an average of 130,000 people into Guildford who directly contribute at least £1. 5 million to the local economy. 87% of the audience would not have come to Guildford if they had not been coming to the theatre. Those people pay for parking, shop before the theatre, and patronise restaurants and bars in town during their visit, supporting the local economy and bringing footfall to the town. To put the theatre’s future existence at risk is not good medium-term economic governance.
The theatre has undertaken many money-saving decisions in the last financial year including moving to volunteer ushers, reviewing core overhead costs, re-tendering contracts to improve value for money and cutting all non-essential expenditure.
In the light of town’s bid to become a city in 2022 it is difficult to see how the council will achieve this ambition if it does not value and invest in the cultural organisations that serve the borough. The theatre improves the health and well-being of Guildford residents, enhances the profile of the borough and brings economic benefits to the town.
We would like to thank those councillors who spoke of the town’s love and value of the theatre, and who understand its immeasurable value to our communities. We look forward to urgent discussions with the council on how to mitigate or amend this unilateral decision.’