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Art. Another mark of a civilized society. But not for much longer here in Somerset…

This article titled “Arts cuts: D-day in Somerset” was written by Laura Barnett, for The Guardian on Tuesday 9th November 2010 21.31 UTC

It’s a Monday morning in the Somerset town of Taunton. White-haired women are chatting over teacakes in the Flying Aubergine West Country cafe. The river Tone is flowing prettily past a car park. And inside the Brewhouse theatre, actor Caroline Horton is on stage, wearing a silver-and-white dress that’s twice as long as her body. On her head is what looks like an icicle. “Shall I do my white witch face?” she says.

Horton is starring in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, this year’s Christmas production at this thriving theatre and arts centre, described last year by the Guardian’s Lyn Gardner as “a crucial part of both the local and national theatre ecology”. This is the first day of rehearsals, and the actors are in an excitable mood. The financial outlook for the Brewhouse, however, and for arts organisations across Somerset, is not nearly so buoyant. This south-western county, best known for rolling fields, scrumpy and picturesque market towns, is today likely to become the first in the UK to scrap outright a major portion of its arts funding.

Last week, a group of Somerset councillors proposed ending all the direct grants, totalling almost £160,000, that the council currently gives to 10 arts organisations – including the Brewhouse, other busy theatres in Frome and Strode, and Somerset Film, a production company in Bridgwater. This figure is close to half its total arts spending: the rest of the money goes towards “supporting creative industries”, although the council seems vague about exactly how this is spent. The final decision on the cut will be made at a full council meeting today.

This is more than a local matter: if the cut goes ahead, and it looks likely, it could have major implications for arts organisations around the country. Many – theatres, dance groups, galleries, concert halls – depend, to some degree, on money from local councils, as well as from the regional arts councils (which are themselves having to tighten their belts: one, Arts Council England, had its budget cut by 30% in the government’s comprehensive spending review). If Somerset goes ahead with such a cut, councils around the country could follow suit.

Horton, who grew up in Staffordshire, can’t believe the council could cut funding to such an active local theatre like the Brewhouse, which programmes homemade productions alongside innovative touring shows. “I didn’t have anything like this near me when I was growing up – if I had, it would have been so exciting. The arts is a subsidised form, yes – but that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable.”

The councillors proposing the cut admit it could see arts groups fail – but they argue this is a necessary evil, and small beer given the council’s wider, £43.6m cutbacks, under which 1,500 workers could lose their jobs over three years. Christine Lawrence, the Conservative councillor with responsibility for the arts, says they plan to let arts organisations bid for a share of the other £160,000. So these 10 arts groups would find themselves competing with each other, and with other organisations, for cash they might not get. This will make financial planning difficult, if not impossible.

“How else,” says Lawrence, “are we to save money? Take it away from services for vulnerable young people? Or from the thousands of older people who come to Somerset to retire?”

For the many people opposed to the cut – and several hundred protestors turned up at the council last week, including the actor Samuel West and the conductor Charles Hazlewood – the question is one of proportion. Local government spending was slashed in the comprehensive spending review by 26%, so these companies were braced for cuts. But the protesters argue that they should be in the region of 30%, in line with that overall reduction.

“The cut they’re proposing,” says Hazlewood, who lives in the area, “is just 0.0004% of the council’s total spend. And yet those 10 companies bring in more than £3.5m in revenue to the county. It’s just horrifying: there isn’t enough going on arts-wise in the West Country as it is.”

West is passionate about protecting the theatre scene outside London, which is not only where some top-class touring and producing companies – such as Kneehigh and Paines Plough – are based, but is also where many young fringe companies cut their teeth. “Not everyone in theatre started in Somerset,” West says, “but everyone started somewhere. You take out one brick, and the rest of the structure can so easily fall.”

At the Flying Aubergine, local residents, including 43-year-old priests Bob and Julia Hicks, share these concerns. “We were just talking about the cuts in the car,” Julia says. “We’re very worried about what they might mean for the region.” Bob adds that they often go to the Brewhouse. “They do great Shakespeare productions, and bring in big names in comedy. The arts are so important, especially to a rural community. They’re like the light in your life – they make life better.”

Robert Miles, the Brewhouse’s artistic director, says the £27,300 grant the venue stands to lose won’t directly cause its fall – but he is concerned it could lead other funding bodies to lose confidence in the theatre. “Our great worry,” he says, “is that we lose the leverage the council’s funding gives us with other funding partners, like Arts Council England. This could be the start of death by a thousand cuts.”

The cut could force Miles to reduce the variety and quality of programming – a great loss to the local audience, many of whom, he says, don’t have the money or the inclination to drive to larger theatres in Bristol or London.

In a church hall in South Petherton, a group of parents and children seem to agree. They are taking part in a dance workshop for under-fives, organised by dancer Hannah Lefeuvre, and commissioned by Take Art, a countywide arts agency, based in a converted barn. The children rush around, clutching cuddly owls and crawling under their mothers’ legs as if through a dark forest.

But Take Art might soon have to reduce the number of schemes like this, as it’s facing a £49,300 cut. Kirstin Len, who has been bringing her three-year-old Tessa for more than a year, is horrified. “This class is a bit of magic for Tessa,” she says, “and such an important part of her development. I’ve lived in Paris and Berlin and I’ve never found anything like this class. It’s horrendous to think it could be taken away.”

Ralph Lister, the agency’s director, emphasises Take Art won’t go under: the council funding is a relatively small part of its budget (Arts Council England is its main provider). But the company might, he says, be forced to reduce the number and quality of performances they organise in villages. “For lots of people,” he says, “this might be the only experience of the arts they have all year. We’re not talking high art – this is art as entertainment. But in rural communities, it can make a difference to people’s lives.”

Touring fringe productions and amateur dramatics societies regularly play the 166-seat theatre at Bridgwater Arts Centre. It also boasts a gallery showing work by local and emerging artists, an art room for classes, and a colourful bar that hosts live music. It’s clearly run on a shoestring: the gallery carpet is old and stained. Marketing and development officer Rachel Hill is unsure how they will budget for a loss of £10,400. “We already run a tight ship,” she says. “We’d probably have to reduce the number of classes. But the sad thing is that this is what many local people want to access.”

On the high street is Somerset Film, whose offices – dubbed the Engine Room – house an internet cafe and film production drop-in centre. “The town seems to appreciate us,” says Phil Shepherd, with a smile. “Our offices haven’t been burned out yet.” It stands to lose £11,500, which would put a severe strain on what it offers. Those who use its three weekly drop-in sessions and film-making classes range from teenagers to the retired, as well as people with learning difficulties. One young company, Film Tank, started out here; they are showing a 10-minute film about Bridgwater’s annual carnival on BBC1 later that evening. Another user with learning difficulties has started shooting his first short film.

“The value of a place like this,” says Shepherd, “is that it gives people a sense of identity – people who are isolated and disenfranchised because they live in a rural county, with no big cities or university towns. We have people who come in here, learn how to make films, and change their lives. That’s why this cut, if it goes ahead, would be such a body blow.”

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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