More opera victims of Arts Council cuts
NewsGlyndebourne Touring has lost half its funding.
Welsh National Opera has been deprived of one-third of its subsidy, underpinning its tours in England.
Covent Garden is down 10 percent, which won’t hurt too much.
English National Opera has been removed altogether from the National Portfolio, with a final £17 million grant over 18 months,
English National Ballet is not trimmed at all.
More follows.
Can someone please explain why taxpayers should pay for this entertainment that only a handful of rich, old, elitist people seem to enjoy?
The rich, old, elitist people should pay for this, not the taxpayers.
I’m with you as long as we rich, old, elitists don’t have to pay for any of your shite, I mean, subsidies either. Deal?
Despite the National part of the name, no arts organization in England is publicly funded. I would question why all of them need to exist in Central London. We already have too many orchestras recycling the same repertoire among them year-to-year, 2 opera houses, 2 ballet theatres, is all this really necessary?
Because the population of London consists of millions of people. It is the centre of the financial world who give substantially to the arts, and, yes, London is the capital city of England.
This is deeply painful for those of us who remember the ENO of the 70s & 80s under Charles Mackerras and Mark Elder, when the musical achievements regularly equaled or surpassed those of ROH. I doubt whether it’s possible now for London to support two large opera companies at a high level without a substantial increase in public subsidy, and I don’t see that happening, whatever the political stripe of the government.
It’s also the only city of any size in the South East and, in normal times, attracts huge numbers of visitors. This allows it to support to things that would not otherwise be viable.
This can be a circular argument, of course, but many British cities are (or were) industrial, and their ability to attract tourists is somewhat limited. I know people are going to bristle at that, and there’s room for improvement, but it’s still a problem.
Yes the capital city and attracts enormous tourism.
Sadly people in many other regions don’t go to the opera as much, so it makes sense to stay in the place where people actually buy tickets and enjoy what’s on offer. Just check how full the halls are for any of the touring companies (not very) and imagine that there is a full-time company in those places.
I now live in the Leeds area, and I’ve never in ten years been to a performance of Opera North, excellent and award-winning company as they are, where an opera has been either sold out. And they do mainly mainstream and imaginatively produced operas. And now, after the pandemic compoundrd with the fear of heating a home and the real cost of living crisis, audiences have not gone back, and expect to see what they want, when they want, and often for free on line.
What are you doing on this website? This is literally for those people you just described (unless you are really a self-hating snob?)
Even if I were to accept your premise, which I don’t BTW, rich, old, elitist people are also taxpayers.
It’s not only rich, old, and elitist people who enjoy opera. (Well, good opera …)
But if only rich people pay for opera, it will be only rich people who ever get to see it.
You obviously have never been, forget Covent Garden. WNO & Opera North tour the UK charge low low prices and play to many young people. A night at WNO & Opera North, is a fraction of the cost of watching Chelsea or Manchester City or Wales playing Rugby
ENO give free tickets to under 21s! Otherwise it is not for the rich as prices have always been affordable. Covent Garden is another story.
ROH has very affordable standing places if you are quick to book them, it also has a young person scheme that texts
availability of short notice seats at prices comparable to a cinema ticket.
Because a rich culture and the arts is the mark of a mature and civilised society. I think if you visit many of these organisations instead of complain about them, you will find many young people there. In some cases, it is the subsidies that enable companies to reduce ticket prices to a level young people can afford.
What‘s wrong with elitist? Actually?
Hail the elite! Let‘s aspire to be elite!
Isn‘t it only for the human elite over centuries, why you can type on a computer soul searching comments here?
But maybe you would be happy to draw it in the sand in front of your cave as well, fair enough.
WNO recently spent a half million pounds on making redundant an entire department who didn’t want to go. It has since spent even more than that on replacing them. And due to those new employees being less able, it has cost them far more than the geniuses who forced the process through had accounted for. On top of that they’ve just spent thousands of pounds defending their actions at a tribunal….. Great management. What an arrogant obscene waste of taxpayers money. I’m afraid WNO deserve no one’s sympathy.
Does ACE specify the distribution of the Royal Opera House grant between the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet? And if so, is it public knowledge? Or does ROH have total discretion?
It’s likely in the grant agreement that will be drawn up (and formed part of the application -they will have submitted budgets for both)
I think it’s in the annual review, or it used to be.
So the very element that involves taking the best of the arts companies from their prestigious ‘elitist’ home bases to perform in front of people around the country in their own locales is removed. Sounds a plan – next year, they can call them elitist and remove the rest.