TheatreVoice: Arts Council Defends Funding Cuts

Whatsonstage.com Radio has teamed up with TheatreVoice.com to bring you expanded audio content. In this special programme broadcast on Whatsonstage.com, Barbara Matthews, director of theatre strategy at Arts Council England (ACE), defends the recent controversial funding cuts, emphasises the good news in the recent review, and talks about new writing, peer review and excellence in British theatre. Aleks Sierz quizzes.

This response follows last week’s TheatreVoice.com debate on the matter, involving Josie Rourke and Sam Walters, artistic directors of the Bush and Orange Tree theatres (See TheatreVoice, 28 Jan 2008). The Bush and Orange Tree went on to become two of the 17 fortunate organisations that successful won reprieves from funding slashes last Friday (See News, 1 Feb 2008). Others were not so lucky. In total, 185 organisations are not having any of their funding renewed and another 27 have had theirs substantially reduced.

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