Arts cuts will see the curtain come down in capital

London Coliseum (English National Opera) may be leaving to Manchester (Image: Wikipedia)The English National Opera has lost its £12.6million core annual grant from Arts Council England – a third of its annual funding – but will instead receive £17million over three years to enable it to relocate.Manchester is the most likely destination, however that would thrust it into direct competition with Leeds-based Opera North.The Donmar Warehouse Theatre has lost its grant while The Royal Opera House will lose £2.9million a year, the Southbank Centre will be cut by £1.9million and the National Theatre will be reduced by £850,000.Stuart Murphy, ENO chief executive, said: “I’m slightly confused why we’d have a reduction on an arts company that has so successfully brought in people of colour, brought in young people, and done things like ENO Breathe with the NHS to help people with lung Covid.”Arts Council chair Sir Nick Serota said there were now “opportunities that exist for English National Opera to become a different kind of company working across the country”.Oscar winner Sir Sam Mendes claimed the new funding programme would hit the arts as a whole.The founding artistic director at the Donmar said cutting its funding “is a short-sighted decision that will wreak long lasting damage on the wider industry”.The Arts Council’s new national portfolio of funding for museums, libraries and other art organisations for 2023 to 2026, includes new investment to 276 institutions that previously weren’t part of the programme.It means 990 institutions all over England will share £446million each year, up from 714 organisations previously.