Following the delayed announcement of the Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) on Friday 4 November, 14 Nottingham arts organisation were confirmed to have received guaranteed annual funding for the period 2023 – 2026. Amongst these organisations, Nottingham Playhouse are to receive £1.3 million year, City Arts will receive £105,311 and Backlit Gallery will receive £76,380.
But while all 13 of the NPOs who were funded in the last cycle (2018-2022) managed to maintain their funding or even gain a financial uplift, Nottingham only gained one new NPO from 2023-6, in the form of Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, who were successful in gaining £130,000 a year for the next three years. Independent theatre producer and Nonsuch Studios Associate Producer Jake Orr is concerned that this represents a loss in real terms for the smaller organisations who failed to be recognised, despite the great work they do on Nottingham’s cultural scene.
“It’s to be celebrated that all of Nottingham’s previous NPOs continue to receive funding, and it represents a good split across artforms, with visual arts and theatre well-catered for. But I feel that it’s short-sighted of the Arts Council to only create one additional NPO in a city that has a really strong cultural and creative community.”
Nonsuch Studios was one of the city's key arts organisations that did not receive funding
Several smaller Nottingham organisations are known to have unsuccessfully bid for NPO funding (a long process that requires submission of a proposed Activity Plan, Investment Principles Plan and Financial information for the next three years), including Nonsuch Studios based in the Creative Quarter, and Fifth Word Theatre Company.
Jake continues,
“It suggests that the Arts Council do not see the potential in the smaller arts organisations in the city, and have chosen instead to maintain the status quo. I appreciate if something’s not broken, there’s no need to fix it, but these grass roots organisations who are making a key difference in the city are going to find it harder to grow now that they will be left to rely on project funding.”
With the government’s Levelling Up agenda seeing more money being spent in the North, the Midlands overall appears to have been overlooked on this occasion. The long-term implications of this decision will only reveal itself in due course. A massive congratulations to the city's vital cultural institutions that received the much-needed funds to keep Nottingham's cultural heart beating.
| Organisation | 2023-26 Annual Funding | Main Discipline |
| Backlit | £ 76,380 | Visual arts |
| City Arts Nottingham | £ 105,311 | Combined arts |
| Culture, Learning and Libraries (Midlands) - Library Service | £ 504,599 | Libraries |
| National Justice Museum | £ 244,416 | Museums |
| New Art Exchange Ltd | £ 1,268,591 | Visual arts |
| New Perspectives Theatre Company | £ 308,616 | Theatre |
| Nottingham City Museums and Galleries | £ 474,775 | Museums |
| Nottingham Contemporary | £ 1,024,303 | Visual arts |
| Nottingham Media Centre Ltd | £ 102,431 | Visual arts |
| Nottingham Playhouse | £ 1,379,735 | Theatre |
| Nottingham, UNESCO City of Literature (NEW) | £ 130,000 | Literature |
| Primary | £ 66,196 | Not discipline specific |
| Tom Dale Company | £ 160,500 | Dance |
| Writing East Midlands | £ 198,038 | Literature |
