NPO news in the West Midlands

Today Arts Council England announced its investment plans for 2015-18. It lists 46 arts organisations joining the portfolio. 58 will be leaving, and 43 of those are outside of London.

Plans for the West Midlands include 48 arts organisations and three Major Partner Museums.

One new organisation joining the West Midlands portfolio is BE Festival, an international theatre showcase.

Black Country Living Museum is a new Major Partner Museum in the West Midlands, joining Ironbridge and Birmingham Museums Trust.

The six organisations being offered a higher level of funding to achieve specific aims are:

• 2Faced Dance Company
• Birmingham Royal Ballet
• DanceXchange
• Ex Cathedra
• Motionhouse
• Sonia Sabri Company

There are three organisations from the West Midlands leaving NPO. From what I gather, those are Big Brum, Rhubarb Rhubarb (which has been in hiatus since 2011, following the sudden and long-term illness of Rhonda Wilson, MBE — its founding CEO and creative force) and Tindal Street Press (formerly based in Birmingham. Since 2012, it has been an imprint of Profile Books Ltd.)

Here are a selection of happy tweets I’ve seen in my feed today:

Excellent news for @Multistory – a further 3 years #NPO funding from @ace_national – we’re happy!

— Multistory (@Multistory) July 1, 2014

We are pleased to announce we remain an @ace_national #NPO 2015-2018 – ^MSp

— mac birmingham (@mac_birmingham) July 1, 2014

Great news for #jazzlines continuing as an Arts Council NPO http://t.co/xJcJ4h7Rik @THSHBirmingham — Mary Wakelam Sloan (@mmmury) July 1, 2014

We’re delighted that DanceXchange will again be an NPO in 2015-18, and that @IDFB is now included in our funding… http://t.co/aZmhIQhBrw — DanceXchange (@dancexchange) July 1, 2014

Congratulations to @SoniaSabriCo @nutkhutuk & all others who have been successful in securing @ace_national #NPO funding. — Sabra Khan (@sabrakhan) July 1, 2014

Delighted that our #NPO status has been maintained for 2015-2018. We are grateful to @ace_national for their ongoing support. Thank you. — Fierce Festival (@fiercefestival) July 1, 2014

I am relieved to say that Black Country Touring has retained its NPO funding at the same level. Fingers crossed for friends & colleagues — Steve Johnstone (@stevebct) July 1, 2014

Five years of collective passion, sweat & imagination. A city-wide, Europe-wide, sector-wide collaboration. @befestival is an #NPO. — Mike Tweddle (@mike_twed) July 1, 2014

Today’s NPO news gives Redeye the thumbs up for a new Lightbox course to start this autumn http://t.co/r66RFnzmxj #NPO #artsfunding

— Redeye (@RedeyeNetwork) July 1, 2014

And the not so happy … 

Big Brum cut from Arts Council National Portfolio. Surprised and saddened – see statement on http://t.co/epOts2FMFJ#NPO#ACEfunding — Big Brum Theatre (@Big_Brum) July 1, 2014

You can check out the stats for yourself on the Arts Council England website, and just the NPOs in the West Midlands on this spreadsheet I uploaded to Google Drive.

Credit to Polaroids and Polarbears for some of the stats info – and thanks to Jenny Duffin from Birmingham Loves Photographers for her help.