National arts com
Massive cuts to arts funding in Glasgow have hit companies such as Scottish Opera hard. But should Glaswegians pay more to fund national arts companies?
Words Stephen Naysmith
SC OTLAND'S NATIONAL ARTS companies have been handed a partial reprieve by Glasgow City C0uncil,
a after a reView of swrngeing cuts to their budgets.
Scottish Opera, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ballet and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra were threatened with cuts of between 69 and 93 per cent to their funding from the Glasgow COuncil,
Traditionally, Glasgow City COuncil and its predecessors have provrded generous support to the natiOnal companies, in recognition of the fact that three of the four are based in the City.
However the decision by the coonCII's Arts and Culture committee to make an additional £60,000 available still means they face far bigger cuts than other arts organisations in the City.
Councillors believe that the national companies are able to absorb them better due to the size of their overall budgets
’We provided only a fraction of their total turnover] a counCil spokesman explained 'But for a lot of Glasgow community-based arts organisations it is as much as 50 per cent of the total. We need to
: make sure those stay open ’
He insisted that Glasgow needed additional help
anies win
competing for singers and dare-(tors in a no: r
lllrlrhf’i Ofif‘fd (1.”:f .lflit'S il'tu.‘ K; flu" H-ft't‘ r.' :‘L.’
years in adva'ii ’
AGENDA
partial reprieve
Scottish Opera: tightening the belt
fllrillri'} ll’} (ft'er tor Rt». i.l< E‘s/an.
:m‘irl‘ed new E-‘i-2ai authority lll: '-§-r til-s :sf «drier-i: irxirrths, f-tit when ’ . . a "i_:r (fr il r f trrries oxer a ' l '. l.’l‘ " ';li ’is 'lllfflfllli to l. ,l..r f“. if}
from central government because its faCIlities were Ho‘s/(“set she adrr . ' t n thr s-r
Widely used by non-residents 'All the serVices in (’)lll(‘ to opera «gr-"ts 'll ’2‘ re "or" " '1' if" Glasgow serve a much Wider ,, . . trf, "It 1” ;: t 2' population It places a Sen/mes m Glasgow 50”“) a ,i .<: .. U l” r:, ' “rel greater burden on the City's much wider populafi{)n_ it rilflir‘g b3. "iil' C“ < m COtincil tax-payers.’ . I, a'd "r ‘-:;" e we a: ,r'f
SCOiilSit Opera's head of places a greate' burden 0” the r.'"tu‘iiii.i itfiistd here' i' 9
press and marketing, city's council tax-payers" .‘.‘-:~.ert"~ei.:«s ll « m», Roberta Doyle, said they had i » ' lt- ' l :i;' been surprised at the severity of the cuts ’We didn't towards other rl'_.".l‘.(i.'"’_lt"s tr.a'l, r» l'
3 for a moment feel we should be immune from the
Cuts, but losmg so much of our grant leaves a big hole in the budget.’ She pomted out that it is not simply a case of
| tightening the belt for Scottish Opera, as they are already committed to many productions 'We are
looking towards the other rt, .'=: ;'s that an» Slrathrlyde lf numbers of other (orriirig to us, we inrotrld itage a and '
The St oltisl‘:
embarked (:ri t'raf :1 .:.",-, it'.'. t rrrtf
we : ,Iiéd (.r-rt "rm 'az-c
(turn: is rat/1:.
C‘n‘irnher‘ Al'iwril.
THEY MAY PROVIDE the yummiest
l pies in football, but Kilmarnock's
latest honour isn‘t so helpful in the PR stakes. Defendants at Kilmarnock Sheriff court have a better (if that's
the word) chance of ending up in . clinky than anywhere else in Scotland. The statistics show that ‘_ the town tops the tree for jailing i housebreakers and as for probation
for these offenders — nae chance. Still, the prison grub should be alright.
r LONDONER ANNIE BRISTOW got the
shock of her life when she awoke from a brain operation and asked for a nice cup of tea in Pauline Fowler style only for the words to spout forth in a Scottish brogue. ’l’ve always loved accents and, blow me down, now I speak with a Scots one,’ she blethered. Not that this is the first time such a fate has struck the
confused Cockney. Last year, she arose from a similar op and started jabbering in French. Specialists have cunningly coined her state ’foreign accent syndrome.’ Cor blimey guv, hoots mon and sacre bleu, I suppose.
SOME PEOPLE DON'T know when they've had a break. Hugh Grant, who received the world’s forgiveness after his personal Divine comedy, has launched a full-frontal assault on ex-addict footballers Paul Merson and Tony Adams. At the premiere of the movie Fever Pitch, Grant took a shot at the Arsenal pair with references to noses both red and white. Alcohol Concern boss Eric Appleby refused to suck up to Grant - 'making jokes at their expense is most unhelpful.’ Grant’s indiscretion seems entirely unnecessary as the man is already sure to go down in history...
DARYL HANNAH MAY seem as though she has it all — cash, a film
Grant: full frontal
'finding
"' 2' ‘ ‘he (Hf irld be hard
the
career, adoring fans the bucketload, cash . . . missing? Something to point with, actually. The poor lass misplaced her fake middle digit (a replacement after a childhood accident) on the set of her current movie The Gingerbread Man. suggesting her attempts to phone the emergency services were scuppered when she realised she had nothing to dial with, remain
unsubstantiated. HOW MANY MORE scandals can this
by
election throw up? With their
campaign in disarray, and several seats already having to choose new
candidates, maybe the Tories should start again from scratch. Binning.
your entire election platform and enough right-leaning candidates to stand across the country sounds a tall order. But it isn't hard — just ask the Labour Party. (Brian Donaldson)
" 7 "l ' THELISTS
Rumours
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r't‘ t l s1 thit (’Jlll[)(illl(?8 d ’-;) H d titeii (orarnitiiient to
t< ll" it "w prrv'rrlerri is seen as? rthe( Cffrw-K refusal to treat
rspera} "this rust trrte of lllrilly: ‘ w'r meet should r'erognise
('oiinr‘ii
} And finally . . . Ayrshireoffenders who won’t have to do porridge
What could be