Arts Council England (ACE) has revealed that it cut funding to Oldham Coliseum Theatre due to concerns around its governance and finances.
Earlier this month, the charity announced that it would be cancelling its upcoming events from 26 March onwards after suffering a £1.8m funding cut over three years from ACE.
ACE told Civil Society News that Oldham Coliseum Theatre’s application was deemed high risk and did not make a strong case for good investment of public funds.
Oldham Coliseum Theatre confirmed that it has faced “governance, financial and leadership challenges” in recent years but has since taken action to address some of these issues.
Governance and financial concerns
Oldham Coliseum Theatre previously received £615,182 a year over three years, totalling £1.8m.
The charity said that ACE’s letter stated: “In recent years, Oldham Coliseum has experienced governance, financial and leadership challenges. There was a significant turnover of the board and a new executive team were appointed with many individuals first time in role with limited experience”.
Indeed, in early December last year, both the charity’s chief executive and chair of trustees left the organisation by mutual consent. The artistic director, who has been at the charity since 2015 was then appointed chief executive while a trustee stepped up as interim chair.
The charity’s accounts show that its income gradually declined from £2.4m in 2017-18 to £1.5m in 2020-21. Its income rose to just over £2m in the year to March 2022 but this includes £1.2m from six government grants.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “The response to the coliseum’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) application was positive about our work on stage and in the community, however raised concerns about our governance, leadership and financial stability. In the time since it was announced that our NPO application was rejected in early November, both governance and leadership concerns have been addressed, with drastic changes to both our board of trustees and executive team.
“We know through our networks that many theatres have been facing a decline in ticket sales even before the pandemic. Changes in audience behaviour in a post-Covid world now also facing a cost-of-living crisis only serves to amplify this.”
High risk application
In total, ACE received 1,700 applications across the country, more than double the number of organisations that were previously in its portfolio. Of these, only 990 will get a share of £446m a year from 2023 to 2026.
Funding through ACE’s national portfolio programme is not guaranteed and does not automatically roll over from one funding period to the next.
ACE said that Oldham Coliseum Theatre’s application was assessed as high risk in terms of the responsibility is has to ensure public funds are spent wisely.
It added that it is aware of how significant theatre is in Oldham and has pledged ring-fenced funding to the town so that it can secure the future of performing arts.
Jen Cleary, director north at ACE, said “We’re backing culture in Oldham and we’ve ringfenced our £1.8m commitment for the town so that people don’t miss out on amazing creative activities.
“Oldham Coliseum’s decision to cancel forthcoming events has been difficult for their staff and all those who love the theatre, and we’re speaking to them regularly to support them.”
Cleary added that ACE is “working closely with Oldham Council” to determine how the investment “should be used to support the future of performing arts in Oldham”. “We’re fully supporting plans for a performing space for the town.”
Uncertainty on the charity’s future
Oldham Coliseum Theatre previously confirmed that the loss of funding had resulted in the current financial situation being unsustainable for the season.
It is not clear yet whether the charity will close or make redundancies but it will be entering “a period of consultation with all impacted staff with support from an independent HR consultant to explore all available options”.
“We expect the period of consultation to last no less than 30 days and we will not be able to determine what will happen next until after the period of consultation is complete,” the charity said.
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