Molayem ART Magazine International Art Magazine
Funding shake-ups have come as a shock, but offer the art form an opportunity to find a new direction and new audiences
- Darren Henley is chief executive of Arts Council England
- Arts Council chief: to survive funding slash, opera should move to car parks and pubs
A performance of Koanga by the Brixton-based Pegasus Opera Company at Sadler’s Wells, London. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Arts Council England recently declined to offer English National Opera (ENO) a place in its next national portfolio of funded organisations. Instead, we proposed a package for it to relocate and reimagine itself outside London. We have been accused lately of crimes including vandalism and metrophobia, by everyone from Andrew Marr to Melvyn Bragg, David Pountney and Simon Schama (although Londoners may note that London’s arts institutions will continue to receive £152m a year – a third of Arts Council funding). Contrary to many reports, we have not sounded a death knell for the opera company.
We know that alongside its acclaimed repertoire of operas, ENO also has a great education programme connecting primary and secondary schoolchildren with opera, and it has created innovative programmes such as ENO Breathe, a wellbeing initiative for people recovering from the effects of Covid-19. We want to support a bright, if different, future for ENO and help develop opera as an art form.
