Full List of Successful Arts Council England NPOs in The North For 2023-26. But Who Lost Out?

Sinta Tantra @ Open Eye Gallery

Arts and culture organisations have been anxiously waiting for their fates to be revealed this morning, as Arts Council England finally announce who gets the 2023-26 round of ‘National Portfolio Organisation’ (NPO) funding.

At 11am this morning, many of our best known and cherished galleries, museums, theatres, publishers, commissioners, project spaces and creative venues across England found out who received (and who didn’t) this significant investment from the national funds, which will see them through the next three years.

It is clear that some have lost this funding completely, making their futures unsure, and others are receiving it for the first time.

The announcement is being broadcast live, here, but was delayed for more than a week, due to the chaotic changes in government.

On this morning’s announcement and selection process for 2023-26, Arts Council said: “The decisions made in this round of National Portfolio funding have been driven by the principles of Arts Council England’s 10 year-strategy, Let’s Create, and by a commitment to creating a fairer spread of investment across the country through a focus on those places where historically, public investment in creativity and culture has been low.”

In a complex application process, organisations wishing to become one of the Arts Council England’s limited list of NPOs have to apply with a ‘realistic and achievable’ business plan every three years. As explained on their website, Arts Council England expect budding and existing NPOs ‘to achieve value for money on behalf of the public.’

A key word in Arts Council’s communication has been the term ‘levelling-up’: suggesting that more should be done outside of the London area. London remains, however, their largest investment, and questions are being asked about whether taking from some to fund others is ethical. Criticism is also aimed at the funding body’s aim to ‘transfer’ their arts organisations (including NPOs and Investment Principles Support Organisations, or IPSOs) out of London, if they wish to remain recipients of Arts Council money.

 

The news in brief:
  • In a shock move, 24 arts organisations ( of those, 18 are currently NPOs) will relocate outside of London, in negotiations with the Arts Council, to other key areas in the North, Midlands and South, by October 2024, and have been offered ‘Transfer Programme’ funding to assist in these moves
  • Northern organisations delivering activity for children and young people has increased by 25%
  • Organisations new to the portfolio include Signal Film & Media, Barrow, who provide free training in animation, filmmaking and audio recording, and an increase in funding for Grimm and Co., Rotherham, introducing children and young people to storytelling, literature and books
  • Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, to receive the same funding as the 2022-23 period, £246,759, for their work specialising in socially engaged photography
  • In comparison, Serpentine Galleries, London, see a drop in funding for their visual arts programme, from £1,215,690, to £708,000
  • Funding for English organisations outside of London will increase by nearly £45 million each year
  • London will still receive a third of all the funding announced, and 30 of the 33 local authorities in the capital are set to receive cash – more than ever before
  • Rural organisations will get a 22% increase (from £36.4 million to £44.6 million per annum); and the number of funded organisations in these areas will increase by 25% (increasing from 88 to 110)
The 990 NPO arts organisations are categorised by Arts Council England into five geographic locations: London, South East, South West, Midlands and North.
A full list of the 282 Northern NPOs for 2023-26:

20 Stories High

AA2A Limited

Abandon Normal Devices

Absolutely Cultured Limited

Action Transport Theatre

Africa Oye Limited

a-n The Artists Information Company

And Other Stories Publishing CIC

ARCADE

Art Gene Limited

Arts at the Mill CIC

Arts Catalyst

Arvon Foundation

Association for Cultural Enterprises

Association of Independent Museums

Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians

Back to Ours Arts Limited

Balbir Singh Dance Company

Ballet Lorent Limited

Baltic Flour Mills Visual Arts Trust

Barnsley Civic Enterprise Ltd

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Barnsley Museums

Beamish Museum

Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival

Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

Blackpool Grand Theatre (Arts & Entertainment) Ltd

Blackpool Illuminations

Bloodaxe Books Ltd

Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company Limited

BookTrust

Bradford Museums & Galleries

Brass Bands England

Brighter Sound

British Textile Biennial

Burnley Youth Theatre

Carcanet Press Limited

Cartwheel Arts

Cast

Castlefield Gallery

Cause4

Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art

Cheshire Dance

Cheshire West and Chester Council

Chol International Arts

Cinder House Publishing Limited (Dead Ink)

Comma Press

Common Wealth

Commonword Enterprises Limited

Community Arts North West

Company Chameleon

Company of Others

Crescent Arts

Culturapedia

Culture Squared CIC

Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance CIC

Cumbria Theatre Trust

Curious Minds

DaDaFest

Dance City

Dance United Yorkshire

DanceSyndrome

darts (Doncaster Community Arts)

DIY Theatre Community Interest Company

Doncaster Heritage Services

Durham County Council

East Riding Libraries

East Street Arts

Eclipse Theatre Company Ltd

Eden Arts

English Folk Expo

Explore York Libraries and Archives Mutual Limited

FACT

Family Arts Campaign Ltd

Festival of Making CIC

Festival of Thrift

Forced Entertainment Ltd

Freedom Festival Arts Trust

Future Arts Centres

Future Yard CIC

Gary Clarke Company Ltd

Gem Arts

Generator North East

Global Grooves

Goole Town Council

Great Georges Community Cultural Project Ltd

Greater Manchester Arts Centre Ltd

Grimm & Co

Grizedale Arts

Grundy Art Gallery

hÅb

Halle Concerts Society

Heads Together Productions Limited

Headway Arts

Heart of Glass

Helix Arts Ltd

Highlights Productions

Homotopia Limited

Hoot Creative Arts

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

Hull City Council

Hull Culture and Leisure Library Services

Hull Truck Theatre

idle women

Ilkley Literature Festival Ltd

imitating the dog

Impressions Gallery of Photography Limited

Inner City Music Ltd (Band on the wall)

Inpress Ltd

In-Situ

Interplay Theatre Trust

Invisible Flock Co

IOU Ltd

Jarrow Hall

Jazz North

Kala Sangam

Kendal Brewery Arts Centre

Kirklees Museums and Galleries

Kirklees Theatre Trust

Lakes Arts Festivals Ltd

Lancaster Arts at Lancaster University

Leeds Museums and Galleries

Leeds Theatre Trust Limited (Leeds Playhouse)

Littleworld Ltd t/a Horse and Bamboo Theatre

Liverpool & Merseyside Theatres Trust Ltd

Liverpool Arab Arts Festival

Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art Ltd

Liverpool Lighthouse

Loud In Libraries CIC

LUNG Productions CIO

M6 THEATRE COMPANY LIMITED

Manchester Camerata Limited

Manchester City Galleries

Manchester Collective

Manchester Craft And Design

Manchester Jazz Festival

Manchester Jewish Museum

Manchester Literature Festival

Manchester Young People’s Theatre trading as Contact

Mediale

Middle Child

Middlesbrough Town Hall

MIF

Mikron Theatre Company

Milap Festival Trust

Mind the Gap

More Music

Mortal Fools

Music Action International

Music in the Round

National Football Museum

National Youth Choirs of Great Britain

New Writing North

Next Door But One

North East Theatre Trust Ltd

North Lincolnshire Council 20-21 Visual Arts Centre

North Music Trust

North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust

Northern Ballet Limited

Northern Broadsides Theatre Company

Northern Heartlands

Northern Lines

Northern Print

Northern School of Contemporary Dance

Northern Stage (Theatrical Productions) Ltd

November Club

Octopus Collective Ltd.

One Latin Culture Ltd

Open Clasp Theatre Company

Open Eye gallery

Opera North Limited

Orchestras Live

Pagoda Arts

Peepal Tree Press

People’s History Museum

Peshkar

Phoenix Dance Theatre

Pilot Theatre Ltd

PIPA

Portraits of Recovery

Preston City Council

Prism Arts

Project Space Leeds

Proud and Loud Arts

Quarantine

Queen’s Hall Arts

Red Ladder Theatre Company

Redhills CIO

Reform Radio

Ripon Museum Trust

RJC Dance

Rosehill Arts Trust

Rotherham Museums, Arts & Heritage

Rotherham Open Arts Renaissance (ROAR)

Royal Court Liverpool Trust

Royal Exchange Theatre Company Ltd

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Rural Arts North Yorkshire

Scarborough Theatre Trust Ltd

Sefton Libraries

Settle Stories

Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books

Shabang! Inclusive Learning

sheba arts

Sheffield Museums Trust

Sheffield Theatres Trust Ltd

SICK! Productions

Signal Film and Media

Site Gallery

Slung Low Limited

SoundCity

South Asian Arts-uk

South Tyneside Council

Southpaw Dance Productions

Square Chapel CIC

St Helens Council Library Service

Stockton Arts Centre Ltd

Stockton Borough Council Tees Valley Museum Group

Stockton International Riverside Festival

Sunderland Culture

Surface Area Dance Theatre CIC

Tech Styles Dance LTD

Tees Valley Arts

Teesside University

Thackray Medical Museum

The Ashton Group Theatre

The Auxiliary Project Space

The Bluecoat

The Bowes Museum

The Bronte Society

The Creative Art House

The Culture House Ltd

The Customs House

The Dukes Playhouse Ltd

The Forge

The Hepworth Wakefield Trust

The Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company

The Lowry Centre Trust

The Maltings Berwick Trust Limited

The Met

The NewBridge Project

The Norton Priory Museum Trust

The Octagon Theatre Trust

The Performance Ensemble

The Reader

The Ropewalk (Barton) Ltd

The Shakespeare North Trust

The Warren Youth Project

The Writing Squad

The York Early Music Foundation

Theatre Hullabaloo

Theatre in the Mill

ThickSkin Theatre

TIN Arts

Transform Theatre Projects

Triple C

Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery

tutti frutti productions

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

UK Storyhouse Ltd

Unfolding Theatre

Unity Theatre

Utopia Theatre Limited

Vane Contemporary Art Limited

Venture Arts

Wakefield Council – Museums

Walk The Plank

We Are Unlimited Arts

West Yorkshire Print Workshop

Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery

Wild Rumpus

Without Walls

Woodhorn Charitable Trust

Wordsmith MCR

Writing on the Wall

York Citizens’ Theatre Trust

York Museums Trust

Yorkshire Artspace Society Ltd

Yorkshire Dance Centre Trust

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Your Trust

Z-arts.

Arts Council England’s full NPO investment plan data for 2023-26, including funding amounts and how that’s changed, can be downloaded here.

In our view, these Arts Council changes mark a remarkable switch in focus from London to the rest of the country. It is dependent on funding itself on government decisions, and has been affected by a multitude of arts cuts stretching back to Austerity measures, first implemented in 2010. Many organisations will be asking this morning; what next? It is still unclear who applied and has lost out in this high-stakes competition for essential investment.

Laura Robertson

Posted on 04/11/2022 by thedoublenegative