ON March 26 John Gilhooly, director of Wigmore Hall, announced that they were going to return the £344,000 they receive annually from Arts Council England (ACE) due to achieving their own financial independence, also citing the “crippling” nature of current Arts Council policy. What followed was a public letter from ACE, which failed to defend their position but effectively accused Wigmore Hall of being selfish during a cost-of-living crisis.

For a long period of time, ACE has been criticised for a variety of reasons, which are often valid. The recent battles surrounding English National Opera or Welsh National Opera show there are deep internal faults within the organisation which are supposed to support the arts in England but seem to be more eager to hack and slash than to help organisations grow or stabilise during this current economic turmoil.

The current Labour government can hardly be accused of being generous with its spending which means many arts organisations (and artists of all stripes who work independently) are having to evaluate whether ACE, Creative Scotland or Arts Council Wales (ACW) can actually sustain them. This has resulted in many organisations becoming increasingly reliant on philanthropy.