Performing Arts Business - Funding Report

In order to get funding for my production of a new musical which I have created, I had to go through many different stages.

Firstly I decided that public funding would be the best way to request funding first as it is an easier process to complete, however since the recent cuts to the arts funding since the olympics, arts funding is a lot harder to come by so it was always going to be very improbable. I thought that I would need to do some research on public funding so that I knew what to expect and how to approach application;

Public funding is where a publicly funded organisation invests in projects within the arts when the organisation cannot fund it themselves. They support a range of artistic activities such as digital art, dance, music, literature, crafts, collections, museums, libraries etc. However, as the funding does come from the public and comes through the government, the funding is prone to frequent cuts which makes it much more of a challenge to get a production funded.

“Two weeks ago it was announced that £675m of lottery funding would be diverted from the arts in order to pay for the Olympics, but nobody realised quite how quickly and painfully the cuts would start to bite. Now we do, and it hurts a great deal. As of Sunday April 1st the Arts Council's Grants for the Arts scheme will suffer a whopping 35% cut. This means that during the funding year 2007/2008 only £54m will be awarded, down from £83m in the current financial year.” - Sourced From: The Guardian Newspaper 2007

I found that the main way to apply for public funding is through the Art's Council. The Arts Council invest in “artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives”. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/who-we-are/

Between 2011 and 2015, The arts council will invest £1.4 Billion of public money from the government and around £0.85 Billion from the National into artistic programs/activities for as many people as possible over the entire country. The arts council receive application forms from artists who are in need of financial support of their art related projects depending on a large number of questions. Public funding is very hard to receive due to the large cuts the Art's Council have been subjected to as a result of the Olympics.

I really think that the cuts to the Arts funding really suggests that the government have a very low opinion of the arts and do not see it as important enough to fund. As the arts is a great way to confront social issues and are a place of freedom of expression, the fact that the government are happy to take such huge chunk of funding away from the arts, could be way of the government subtly controlling how the public think and/or complain.

The Next thing that I did was fill out the application form and sent it off to the arts council to get assessed.

I received a letter in the post telling me that my application for the funding of my project had been declined. This has caused a serious problem for me as I feel that as someone who pays taxes and who's family pays taxes, I really deserve to get some help where it really counts. I also feel that as the theatre is an old English Past time in many ways, that the government are slowly cutting away a part of true English history which I am a part of and I am very passionate about by not encouraging productions like mine through funding.

However, I mustn't let my rejection stop me. I have heard of something called private funding where people with lots of money will invest in productions which they think will leave them with a large profit. These people are nicknamed 'Angels' in the industry (Executive producers) and will listen to or watch shows and choose whether or not it is worth their money and they will make a good enough profit.

However, in order to make a high profit, producers may require that parts of productions are changed or edited in order to suit a different audiences, such as a family audience, as they are likely to buy more tickets and send more money whilst out too. Some artist's would not be happy to do this as it is in a way jeopardising their art whereas others are just happy to know that their work is being opened up to the public. I think that I would be angry that I would have to change around a piece of art that I had created just to suit someone else as art is freedom of expression, however, I think that I would be open to some small changes as long as my production still put the same message across and I felt that it made the impact on the audience which I had first intended.

Producers are the people who keep the books and are in charge of the money. They are there to make sure that the production does not go over budget in order for him to get a fair slice of the profits too. The producer is the most important part of a production, some are close to accountants and negotiate contracts and deal with the finances of a production.

One of the most famous executive producers is Cameron Mackintosh;

“Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh was born on 17 October 1946 and is a British Theatrical Producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times. He is the producer of shows such as Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, Martin Gruerre and Cats.”

Sourced From: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/09/magazine/the-musical-is-money-to-his-ears.html 

Mackintosh began working in the theatre royal as a stage hand until he soon became stage manager on several touring productions. He soon began producing his own small scale tours before becoming a London Based Producer in 1970. Some of the shows which Mackintosh has produced and are still running are; Mary Poppins, Phantom of the opera, Avenue Q, Witches of Eastwick, Cats, Hair, My fair Lady, Oliver and Miss Saigon.

I was curious to find out how much money Mackintosh would have made (roughly) over the 25 years that Phantom of the opera had been running. I estimated that Phantom of the opera would have made around £3,161,812,500  over the 25 years and that as Mackintosh would receive at the least a 10% cut, he would have made £316181250.