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Specific examples of public support
Now, let us look at some actual examples of arts support to see how the system functions in the cases of large, middle and small scale organizations. (See "Example of aid revenue breakdown")
Example (1) shows the revenue breakdown of one of Britain's representative opera companies, the English National Opera (ENO). Since the ENO is an important national institution, ACE supplies about half of the funds necessary for the company to operate. Since the ENO is located within WCC's area of jurisdiction it also supports the company to a small degree by paying 10% of the ticket cost for WCC card holders. But we can see from this that the ENO has to depend on ticket sales for most of the other half of its revenue.
Example (2) is the case of one of London's most important photographic art galleries, Photographers' Gallery, which is run by a non-profit organization. More than half of the gallery's revenue is provided by LAB in its role as supporter of important London arts organizations. But the WCC also pays for 5% of the galleries revenue.
Example (3) is the case of a youth dance group in the WCC's district called the Westminster Youth Dance Scene. Since this group operates for the benefit of the young people of the local community, WCC donates roughly 70% of the group's operating cost.
When the end finally came to 18 years of conservative governments in Britain and the Blair government came to power in 1997, the budgets for support of the arts has increased and many of Britain's arts organizations feel like a long hard winter has finally ended.
However, with the failure of ACE to slim down its operation as much as its was hoped to, the RAB are faced with the problem of a growing number of responsibilities but insufficient funds to increase the number of staff to accommodate the increased work load. Also, in the case of London, the capacity of LAB and the local government offices to support the arts will be influenced greatly by the policies instated by future governors of the city.
It may take several years before a state of stability is reached in terms of arts support policies and systems in Britain.
Examples
of support revenue breakdownsExamples of support revenue breakdowns
(Source: Annual Review of Westminster's
Support for Arts, 1999) |
| ACE: |
Arts Council of England |
| LAB: |
London Arts Board |
| WCC: |
Westminster City Council |
| Earned: |
Ticket sales, revenue from workshops, etc. |
| Trusts: |
Donations and interest from trusts endowments if a non-profit
organization |
| Commercial: |
Revenue from book stores, cafes, bars, etc. |
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