Hampshire County Council
Arts Panel Item 6
1 September 1999
Capital Programme for the Arts
Report of the Director of Arts, Countryside and Community
Contact: Michael Fuller Ext: 6016
1. Summary
1.1 This report requests that the Arts Panel notes the
changes in lottery funding for arts projects in the
county and reallocates new sums to St. Vincent, Gosport,
Cricklade College Theatre, Andover, Beatrice Royal
Gallery, Eastleigh, the Hampshire Arts Centres,
Bedhampton Arts Centre, the revenue budget for Winchester
Theatre Royal, Hog The Limelight and Minor Capital
Grants. It also recommends paying grants to Beatrice
Royal Gallery and the Hampshire Arts Centres and
transferring money to the revenue budget.
2. Introduction
2.1 The Capital Programme for Recreation and Heritage
Committee contains specific provision for the Arts in
Hampshire. The current allocations within the Capital
Programme are shown in Appendix 1 attached, which
displays confirmed spending decisions in bold type and
allocations in light type.
2.2 This report provides information on the latest
position on the Arts Council of England's Lottery
Programme and its impact on the arts capital schemes in
the county. This report also recommends that the
Recreation and Heritage Committee be asked to revise the
allocations, transfer finance to the revenue budget and
agree two grants. The recommended Capital Programme is
shown in Appendix 2, also attached.
3. The Arts Council of England's Capital Programme 1
3.1 The Arts Council of England has recently announced
the closure of its Capital Programme 1. The only scheme
which is now being supported in Hampshire is the Museum
of Modern Crafts (MOMC) Project to develop a facility for
the contemporary crafts which is being managed by
Hampshire County Council. All other applications are
being refused support and will not therefore receive a
major lottery award from this Programme. A new Arts
Council Capital Programme 2 will be launched later this
year but this will have new priorities and targets. The
small scale scheme for applications below £100,000 is
unaffected.
3.2 Unfortunately, this decision by the Arts Council
means that many schemes will now not receive the major
financial support which they were expecting even though
many of them have had a lot of time and effort expended
upon them. Some capital projects have received
conditional support from Hampshire County Council using
the Recreation and Heritage Committee's Capital
Programme. The Arts Panel has adopted the policy of
using its Capital Programme to support lottery
applications so as to maximise the funding for arts
facilities in the county. As these projects will now
fail to comply with the conditions set by the County
Council as well as needing to be revised in the light of
the new circumstances, the money set aside for these can
be returned to the Capital Programme for reallocation.
4. Recreation and Heritage Committee's Capital
Programme for the Arts
4.1 As can be seen from Appendix 2, a number of
adjustments are being recommended in the light of the
information about the Arts Council Lottery Programme and
the consequent changes to schemes. In the current
allocations shown in Appendix 1 a sum total of £101,000
is being reallocated. This comprises:
¨ £38,000 for Tower Arts Centre, Winchester
¨ £13,000 for St Vincent College, Gosport
¨ £50,000 for Cricklade College Theatre, Andover
4.2 It is proposed that new allocations, totalling
£101,000 are made for the following projects which are:
¨ £5,000 for St Vincent College, Gosport towards
the costs of improving their public facilities (see
paragraph 5.1);
¨ £5,000 for Cricklade College Theatre, Andover
towards the costs of improving their public
facilities (see paragraph 5.2);
¨ £4,000 for Beatrice Royal Art Gallery in
Eastleigh which is just fitting out a lottery funded
extension;
¨ £30,000 to provide the matching funding for the
recent Lottery Award of £87,332 for equipment in the
Hampshire Arts Centres;
¨ £23,000 for Bedhampton Arts Centre which is in
great need of improvement;
¨ £30,000 one-off transfer to the revenue budget
to help towards revenue funding of Winchester
Theatre Royal (£20,000) and Hog The Limelight scheme
for village hall entertainment (£10,000);
¨ £4,000 to be added to the Minor Capital Grants
Fund.
These recommended allocations are set out in
Appendix 2 and explained in further detail in the
following paragraphs.
5. St Vincent College, Gosport and Cricklade College
Theatre, Andover
5.1 At the meeting of the Arts Panel on 6 December 1995
it was decided that the scheme to develop the theatre at
St Vincent should be supported with a grant of £20,000
subject to the scheme receiving support from the Arts
Council Lottery Panel. A sum of £7,000 was used in the
preparation of the application but the remaining £13,000
can be reallocated within the Capital Programme.
5.2 In a similar way Cricklade College planned to
rebuild their theatre in Andover with the County Council
agreeing to support the project with £50,000. The
College has decided not to proceed with this scheme and
are now working on the enhancement of the ancillary
public facilities in order to upgrade the theatre.
5.3 Both Colleges are at the early stages of planning
but hope to proceed with works next summer. At this
stage the level of support that the County Council should
offer is not certain. However, it is proposed that an
allocation of £5,000 be made to each scheme subject to
more detailed plans being brought to Arts Panel for the
final decision.
6. Beatrice Royal Art Gallery
6.1 Beatrice Royal Art Gallery is based in Nightingale
Road, Eastleigh. Founded in 1994 by the Tramman Trust,
primarily to show paintings, the Art Gallery introduced
craft in 1996. In November 1997 it was awarded a
£1,035,000 grant from the Arts Council Lottery Fund which
was made to enable the Gallery to double in size from
5,000 sq.ft. to 10,000 sq.ft. The new galleries will
open on 18 September 1999.
6.2 The new opportunities offered by the extension will
do more than double the scale of the operation and the
area served. The new spaces, indoor and outside, showing
contemporary sculpture, textiles, portraiture and
furniture, will be coupled with commissioning services
previously not available. Existing sales promotion and
art rental schemes will be developed further and a new
education room is being equipped for practical art and
craft activities and cabled for IT to allow for flexible
use by school and community groups.
6.3 The Gallery has requested that the County Council
helps with a small grant to assist in the fitting out of
the facility and so it is recommended that a grant of
£4,000 is made towards the costs of a commission for the
new premises.
7. Hampshire Arts Centres Consortium
7.1 As part of the Stabilisation programme, the
Hampshire Arts Centres consortium applied to the Arts
Council of England for financial support from the lottery
fund for new equipment and other items to help implement
their artistic programme. The application has been under
consideration since March this year. An award of £87,332
was made by the Arts Council at its meeting in July.
7.2 This award requires a matching sum of £30,000 be
found from other sources before it can be released to the
County Council. It is proposed that this sum is agreed
to be spent in support of the lottery scheme.
8. Bedhampton Arts Centre
8.1 Bedhampton Arts Centre is owned by Hampshire County
Council but is managed by Havant Arts Active as part of
its operations. The building is in a real need of being
upgraded and updated with some parts in a poor state of
repair. The property was built in 1868 and is
essentially in a sound state. However, the requirements
of modern standards means that some new works and repairs
are going to be needed in the future.
8.2 The Arts Centre is used as a base for youth theatre
activities and currently entertains five groups with
between 20 and 40 members in each. The ages range from
four to eighteen. The other main user group is adult
education with a series of classes each term. This now
means that the Centre is full each weekday evening with
daytime classes each day and Saturday morning.
8.3 In addition to the activities available to the
public the Centre also contains an artist studio working
in the visual arts, a local theatre group have an office
space and the community policeman uses a small room for a
liaison office. The Centre has plans to develop its
activities in photography, new media and ceramics but
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this depends on alterations to the arrangements of space
in the Centre for which the Centre is currently raising
funds.
9. Revenue Budget Requirements
9.1 At the meeting of the Arts Panel in June it was
agreed that the full grant of £82,000 would be paid in
support of the preliminary operations of the Winchester
Theatre Royal. Only £20,000 currently exists in the
revenue budget and so the officers were instructed to
investigate sources of funding. Apart from minor sums in
the revenue budget the main source identified to date is
the Capital Programme, which is being restructured at
this meeting. It is proposed to make a one-off transfer
of £20,000 to the revenue budget and pay this to the
Winchester Theatre Royal. Further research to identify
the balance to meet the full request of £82,000 will
depend on a revised cash flow forecast once the delayed
building works re-start.
9.2 In item 4 of this agenda it was noted that the
demand for the Hog The Limelight scheme for village
entertainment is far in excess of that of previous years.
This has been caused by the loss of the sponsorship this
year and the increased enthusiasm by the villages of the
county in joining the scheme in ever greater numbers. It
is therefore recommended that £10,000 is provided for the
Hog The Limelight scheme for this year through a one-off
transfer from the Capital Programme.
Recommendations
That it be a recommendation to the Recreation and
Heritage Committee that:
1. The previous sums of the Capital Programme as
described in paragraph 4.1 be reallocated to those
organisations listing in paragraph 4.2 shown in Appendix
2.
2. Grants be made to the Beatrice Royal Art Gallery
(£4,000) and the Hampshire Arts Centres (£30,000) and the
sum of £30,000 be transferred to the revenue budget
providing £20,000 to the Winchester Theatre Royal and
£10,000 to the Hog The Limelight scheme.
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