From Stephen Maddock, CBSO Chief Executive
Dear xxxxx
As you may know, Birmingham City Council has reduced its funding for the CBSO by 65% in real terms since 2010 as a result of the serious financial challenges it has faced, not least as a result of cuts to its own funding from national government.
Until last month Council representatives were telling us that they hoped not to have to make any further cuts. But the City Council has recently announced that one of the ways it plans to achieve a further 0.6% (£18 million) reduction in its £3 billion annual budget is to reduce funding to arts and culture organisations and community arts in the city by 49% – from £2.18 million to £1.12 million – from April 2019.
We have been warned that cuts may not be applied equally across all organisations, and have been asked to model the impact of cuts of up to 100% of our grant.
The CBSO’s funding from the City Council – £672,000 in the current year – has already been cut to levels last seen in the 1980s, and even without the proposed cut is more than £400,000 per year below local government funding for equivalent orchestras in Manchester and Liverpool.
We have done all we can to maintain the excellence and breadth of our work in this context. We already bring in more money from our ticket sales than any orchestra in the country, our fundraising has increased from £450,000 to £1.6 million per year since 2010, and our musicians and staff have accepted sub-inflationary pay increases every year for a decade. As a result, we continue to enrich the lives of tens of thousands of children each year, engage over 200,000 audience members with live music, boost the economy by attracting countless visitors to Birmingham, and fly the flag for the city as one of the world’s great orchestras by attracting invitations to leading concert venues worldwide.
A further 50% cut, imposed at under six months’ notice, would be catastrophic, requiring us either to significantly scale back planned activity, including projects to mark our Centenary in 2020, or to make an unaffordable loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds in 2019-20.
Consultation on the City Council budget is underway, inviting members of the public to give their views. This consultation closes on 31 December 2018.
We urgently need your help to secure the future of Birmingham’s vibrant cultural life – its theatres, festivals and dance companies, and of course the CBSO and Symphony Hall. Please consider:
• Signing our online petition which can be accessed here http://www.change.org/p/love-culture-hate-cuts .
• Writing a letter or emailing the Leader of Birmingham City Council, Councillor Ian Ward, at the Council House, Victoria Square Birmingham B1 1BB or ian.ward@birmingham.gov.uk. You may wish to include some key facts https://cbso.co.uk/about/key-facts .
• Picking up a FREEPOST Love Culture, Hate Cuts postcard at a performance and sending it to Councillor Ward.
• Attending the public meeting on 19 December 2018 (more information here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birmi...ts-51550088703) and speaking about the importance of the arts and culture.
Thank you, in advance.
With best wishes
Stephen Maddock
Dear xxxxx
As you may know, Birmingham City Council has reduced its funding for the CBSO by 65% in real terms since 2010 as a result of the serious financial challenges it has faced, not least as a result of cuts to its own funding from national government.
Until last month Council representatives were telling us that they hoped not to have to make any further cuts. But the City Council has recently announced that one of the ways it plans to achieve a further 0.6% (£18 million) reduction in its £3 billion annual budget is to reduce funding to arts and culture organisations and community arts in the city by 49% – from £2.18 million to £1.12 million – from April 2019.
We have been warned that cuts may not be applied equally across all organisations, and have been asked to model the impact of cuts of up to 100% of our grant.
The CBSO’s funding from the City Council – £672,000 in the current year – has already been cut to levels last seen in the 1980s, and even without the proposed cut is more than £400,000 per year below local government funding for equivalent orchestras in Manchester and Liverpool.
We have done all we can to maintain the excellence and breadth of our work in this context. We already bring in more money from our ticket sales than any orchestra in the country, our fundraising has increased from £450,000 to £1.6 million per year since 2010, and our musicians and staff have accepted sub-inflationary pay increases every year for a decade. As a result, we continue to enrich the lives of tens of thousands of children each year, engage over 200,000 audience members with live music, boost the economy by attracting countless visitors to Birmingham, and fly the flag for the city as one of the world’s great orchestras by attracting invitations to leading concert venues worldwide.
A further 50% cut, imposed at under six months’ notice, would be catastrophic, requiring us either to significantly scale back planned activity, including projects to mark our Centenary in 2020, or to make an unaffordable loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds in 2019-20.
Consultation on the City Council budget is underway, inviting members of the public to give their views. This consultation closes on 31 December 2018.
We urgently need your help to secure the future of Birmingham’s vibrant cultural life – its theatres, festivals and dance companies, and of course the CBSO and Symphony Hall. Please consider:
• Signing our online petition which can be accessed here http://www.change.org/p/love-culture-hate-cuts .
• Writing a letter or emailing the Leader of Birmingham City Council, Councillor Ian Ward, at the Council House, Victoria Square Birmingham B1 1BB or ian.ward@birmingham.gov.uk. You may wish to include some key facts https://cbso.co.uk/about/key-facts .
• Picking up a FREEPOST Love Culture, Hate Cuts postcard at a performance and sending it to Councillor Ward.
• Attending the public meeting on 19 December 2018 (more information here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birmi...ts-51550088703) and speaking about the importance of the arts and culture.
Thank you, in advance.
With best wishes
Stephen Maddock
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