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National Theatre: Response to Consultation on the National Lottery Shares
When the Lottery finally came into being in 1994 it addressed a critical situation
in the state of the infrastructure of many of the country’s Arts buildings. Huge,
disruptive rebuilding programmes were required to deal with the cumulative
effects of a lack of investment in repairs, maintenance and capital renewal over a
period of many years, but particularly exacerbated by the preceding years of
cash freezes and cuts in Arts funding.
The Arts have thrived during the recent stable period of revenue funding but the
shortfall in lottery funding for capital has in recent years started to be felt again.
This situation will become more acute with the planned cuts in Arts funding,
during which period it is inevitable that the budgets set aside for capital renewal
will be cut to sustain programme activity. The result of delay in essential capital
spend will result in a loss of mission and, ultimately lead to greater and additional
costs –this borne out by the experience of the mid 90’s.
There is therefore a serious risk that within a very short period the benefits of the
last round of capital investment will be undone and the country’s facilities will
quickly become shabby, incapable of producing high class work and no longer a
serious presence in driving the creative economy.
The proposal to return the Lottery share going to the Arts to 20% is therefore a
most welcome and appropriate response from Government. The channeling of
Lottery receipts for the arts through the Arts Council as Lottery distributor is also
key as the Arts Council is in the ideal position to assess need and determine
which organisations have the management capacity and growth potential to take
forward such capital expenditure.
Funding for the Arts will clearly be difficult during the next 5 years. In our view it
is essential that a sufficient share of the arts lottery funding is ring fenced for
capital spend in line with the original lottery objectives and that it is linked to clear
strategic objectives.
We want to make it clear that this is not about creating new, expensive, “grand
projets”; this is no time for vanity projects. Rather, if the Arts are to thrive and to
continue to make a significant contribution to the cultural and economic life of the
country, it is essential that they have the means to focus on maintaining current
estates; making sensible alterations to existing buildings to accommodate new
work - e.g. digital, collaboration with other arts companies, work with children and
young people – and ensure audience access; undertaking works needed to cope
with changes in external environment and; funding energy efficiency and
environmentally sustainable works.
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