Revealed: Undercover Arts Council grants to pay off London debts

Revealed: Undercover Arts Council grants to pay off London debts

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norman lebrecht

June 20, 2014

Liz Hill on ArtsProfessional has a helluva story. The ACE has apparently been helping big London clients meet the interest on their debt repayments.

All very quietly and under the table, from a contingency budget.  The South Bank, needless to say, gets most.

Three million here, three million there, that’s where our money goes.

 

southbank

Comments

  • Una says:

    Not surprised – and thank God the money is there. Ticket prices on the South Bank are relativel cheaper than elsewhere. Fine line between putting up ticket prices, musicians at home earning a living and then excluding many in a recession on lower incomes. Don’t know in all honesty what the answer is.

  • Halldor says:

    £49 is spent by the ACE per head in London (15% of the population) for every £1 spent outside the capital (85% of the population).

    The principal symphonic concert venue in the West Midlands – serving a region of 5 million people, 10% of the population of England – receives £83,000 per year from the ACE. (I haven’t omitted a zero).

    Don’t know why those particular figures suddenly spring to mind…

  • Walter says:

    Shouldn’t someone have just kept quiet about this? Now there will probably be some investigation and it will cease. Just to get a story!

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