Save Our Opera Company

ARTS SUPREMO TELLS OPERA COMPANY HOW TO SAVE ITSELF

07-02-2008

West Midlands Arts Council supremo Sally Luton has been setting out the conditions for the survival of Birmingham Opera Company ahead of crisis talks today. But she insists she’ll do everything she can to help the organisation survive.

As The Stirrer revealed in December, BOC’s annual £324,000 grant was due to be axed, following a national spending review (see link here)

That would have almost certainly meant the death of the Company, but following extensive lobbying nationally and locally, the Arts Council has offered a possible reprieve.

They’re not offering any funding for 2008/09 but cash has been “reserved” for the following two years – subject to reaching a mutually agreed settlement.

Luton, chief executive of Arts Council West Midlands has been telling us how BOC can save itself when they meet.

“The issue has never been, ‘is this good quality work?’” she said.

“Everyone acknowledges that Graham Vick [music director] is internationally known for creating quality work.

“The issue is that the work happens infrequently, so how can we ensure that a company which claims to be about community opera actually is part of the community.

“Each of their projects tends be a one-off which is very excitng, but what happens afterwards? Can we have a programme of year round activities, maybe by developing partnerships? That’s the issue.

“Our concerns are shared by Birmingham City Council who want to see the Company exist in Birmingham, but to develop work in local neighbourhoods.”

The Company’s financial planning also worries Luton who wants greater guarantees that it won’t run up losses on over-ambitious projects, but she insists, “It’s completely within the capacity of the Company to do it. If they choose to accept those conditions, we’ll accept them back into our funding programme.

“We want to make their brilliant work more embedded in the city so it has more benefits.”

She also indicated that if BOC agrees to the deal, there could be some latitude in funding to help them get through this year.

One of the key issues will be whether the Company can accommodate these demands within a static budget.

They may also feel that it compromises their vision of offering the various communities they deal with the chance to work only with the very best in the opera profession – this would be impossible to sustain on both financial and practical grounds with a year-round programme.

However BOC’s General Manager Jean Nicholson insisted, “We’re going in with a constructive frame of mind and we want to come out of this with a shared view of what we’re trying to achieve.”