ACE reveals support for organisations affected by 2023-26 portfolio cuts

Arts Council England (ACE) has revealed the 102 organisations receiving funding as part of its Transform and Transition programmes. The funding is intended to support organisations which are receiving less funding as part of the ACE’s 2023-26 National Portfolio programme than they did in the previous 2018-23 portfolio (Transform) or which have been cut from the portfolio altogether (Transition).

Designed to help organisations ‘move towards a new business model and… honour existing financial commitments’ as they move away from dependence on ACE funding, this funding round comes too late for organisations including Psappha Ensemble, which announced last week that it would be closing its doors following a 100 per cent cut to its ACE funding.

ACE chief executive Darren Henley said: ‘We received a record number of applications to our latest investment round, and many more good applications than we could support; as a result, we had to make difficult decisions which meant some organisations had to leave the portfolio, and we had to ask others to manage with less. We really do understand how challenging some of our decisions have been for those organisations, and this package of support is designed to help manage this change as fairly as possible.’

Following an application and assessment process, ACE awarded £8.5 million to 20 organisations through its Transform programme and £10.4 million to all 82 organisations who applied for funding through its Transition programme. The full list of the 82 organisations receiving funding through ACE’s Transition programme has not yet been made public.

The six music organisations receiving just under £5.1 million in funding as part of the Transform programme are: Sound and Music, London Sinfonietta, English Folk Dance and Song Society, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Welsh National Opera and the Philharmonia. All these organisations are based in London, with the exception of Welsh National Opera.

You can find the full list of organisations funding by the Transform programme here.