Opera’s hopes of staying relevant across the country have taken another blow after Glyndebourne announced the end of its touring programme due to funding cuts.
Richard Davidson-Houston, managing director, lambasted the cut in its subsidy from Arts Council England (ACE) which he said was “devastating” for the opera sector.
Glyndebourne, which holds an annual non-subsidised opera festival at its East Sussex home, has taken productions on tour across the country for more than 50 years with the help of state funding.
In November ACE withdrew half of its grant while also taking away English National Opera’s entire £12.6 million grant and cutting £2 million - roughly a third of its previous annual grant - from Welsh National Opera, which used the money to tour in England. It has already announced cuts to its touring programme.
Glyndebourne had been planning to mount shows in Liverpool, Canterbury, Norwich and Milton Keynes in 2023.
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Davidson-Houston said the arts council’s November funding settlement — which runs until 2026 — had been “devastating for many in the opera sector, which was targeted with significant cuts”.
“It risks undermining the delicate ecosystem in which we operate,” he said, adding that reducing Glyndebourne’s grant for touring by 50 per cent — from £1.6 million to £800,000 annually — did not make sense.
“These cuts have been justified in part by the need to redirect public funding to support culture in the regions. In this context, the decision to reduce Glyndebourne’s funding by 50 per cent appears contradictory because it has the direct, inevitable and foreseeable consequence of rendering our tour financially unsustainable,” he said.
ACE has continually said it was forced to make difficult funding decisions after being directed by Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, to move funding out of London as part of the government’s Levelling-Up agenda.
In justifying cuts to the opera companies based outside the capital — such as Glyndebourne and Welsh National Opera — the funding body said its research showed there was “almost no growth” in demand for “grand opera”.
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It has however started funding some small opera companies for the first time while the Royal Opera House, which also includes Royal Ballet, remains the single largest beneficiary of ACE largesse. Opera is the most expensive performing art to mount given the high costs of maintaining full orchestras and choirs.
Glyndebourne said it had no choice but to cancel its touring programme given it had previously been “absorbing losses” from its tour and due to costs rising in general.
Stephen Langridge, artistic director, described the tour cancellation as a “huge blow”.
“Alongside main stage performances, we had planned exciting opportunities for people in those locations to make music with Glyndebourne in their community.
“This would have seen hundreds of children singing with the Glyndebourne Chorus, workshops in care homes and chamber music recitals in universities. Sadly, this autumn we will not be able to offer these extraordinary opera experiences so widely across England,” he said.
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The November funding settlement is the most contentious in a generation after ACE moved £24 million in annual funding out of London. The ENO — which has warned it faces an existential threat — the Donmar Warehouse and Hampstead Theatre were among the organisations to lose their entire subsidy.
This week Dorries, who left the culture secretary role in September after 12 months in the post, broke her silence on the settlement and said she was not to blame, in particular, for cutting the ENO grant. She said it had been a “stunt” by ACE to “try [and] reverse levelling up and funding being transferred to poorer communities in the north of England”.
ACE said in response: “We have delivered on the instruction given to us by the government in February 2022 to disburse additional funding we received to benefit areas outside of London and to reduce the budget for London.
“We were clear with organisations throughout the funding application process that a smaller budget for London would result in difficult decisions.
“Each year, over the next three years, £43.5 million will be invested in 78 levelling up for culture towns and cities, and £294 million will go to 708 organisations outside the capital, ensuring that more people in more places will find fantastic, fulfilling art and culture on their doorsteps.”
