Five Brighton and Hove arts organisations receive new Arts Council funding

Five Brighton and Hove arts organisations have received Arts Council funding for the first time.

They were among 14 organisations in the city which received a total of £4.3 million from the national body, including the trusts which run the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Dome.

The Hove-based music project, African Night Fever,  which puts on club nights, workshops and other events, is to receive £98,000.

Co-founder Ebou Touray said: “Communities thrive through shared arts and culture, and this funding will allow us to excel our programme.”

Writing Our Legacy, a literature, arts and heritage organisation which works with black, Asian and ethnically diverse writers, is set to receive £80,000.

Marlborough Theatre Productions, which commissions new work from queer writers, has been awarded £225,000 – the largest sum of the new organisations receiving funding.

Visual art organisation, Creative Future, which works with underrepresented artists and hosts the Creative Future Writers’ Award, is to receive £120,000.

Jane McMorrow, director of Creative Future said: “Our mission from day one has always been to support talented people who lack creative opportunities and are underrepresented in mainstream culture.

“This significant investment and recognition of our work from Arts Council England will allow us to discover and nurture even more talented creatives across the country and ensure we can continue to widen access and opportunities for underrepresented people.”

Outlands Network, an experimental music producer network,  will get £79,479.

Projects receiving continued funding from the Arts Council include Carousel, which works with learning disabled artists to provide training, production and leadership initiatives.

Carousel is to receive £215,000, up 6 percent from the funding they received for 2022/23.

Director Liz Hall said: “We are delighted to have secured Arts Council funding.

“It will enable us to continue to champion learning disabled artists and their contribution to a rich creative culture in the city and beyond.”

The disabled-led visual arts journal, Disability Arts Online has had their funding increased by 43 percent to £146,492.

Colin Hambrooke, editor of Disability Arts Online said: “In a society that has side-lined and discriminated against disabled communities, especially since the pandemic, our work is vital in ensuring that disabled voices within arts and culture are listened to.

“In particular, the award will allow us to instigate change within the visual arts towards achieving our ambition of validating a disability aesthetic that the sector begins to take on board as a curatorial opportunity.”

Outside In provides artist development, exhibitions and training for artists who face significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance or isolation.

They are set to receive £101,840.

Marc Steene, director of Outside In said: “We are delighted to have maintained our National Portfolio Organisation status with the Arts Council England.

“The ongoing support means that we can continue to help develop a fairer art world and include a wider artist body to the many benefits the art world offers.”

More than half the 14 local organisations who won funding work for projects which support underrepresented communities.

Arts Council England chair, Sir Nicholas Serota, said: “As well as continuing our commitment to our many established and renowned cultural organisations, I am deeply proud of the support we will be giving to those new organisations which will help ignite creativity across the country.

“We are facing economic pressures at present but this funding is about an investment in our future.

“This portfolio will support the next generation of visionary inventors, makers, performers and artists.

“In particular, the growth of our funding for organisations that support and develop work for children represents a profoundly important long-term investment in our country’s talent.”

The funding from Arts Council England will give a total of 990 organisations nationally a share of £446 million each year from 2023 to 2026.

The full list of local organisations who are to receive funding according to the Arts Council is below (Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust, which is now Brighton and Hove Museums, says the figures from Arts Council England are incorrect and their funding is not being reduced).