Funding cuts and rent charges are putting the well-loved Battersea Arts Centre’s future in crisis. Elspeth Waters reports

A launch pad for many of the UK’s best-loved thesps, with the highest local attendance of any London theatre to boot, Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) is quite possibly the brightest jewel in Wandsworth’s crown. However, after a quarter of century of flawless reviews, last month, out of the blue, Wandsworth Borough Council threatened to turn its back on the cultural goldmine by cutting its £100,000 grant, and charging rent and running costs of £270,000, with effect from April 1.

Since the initial announcement on January 8, the council has revised its proposal, offering BAC £85,000 funding in 2007/8 and 2008/9, subject to an agreement being reached regarding a new lease on the Old Town Hall. According to BAC’s press and communications officer, Alicia Gessakis, with negotiations underway, the centre is no longer in such dire straits, although, if the proposed rent charges are not significantly capped, the centre’s finances would be unmanageable. “We are still negotiating but the situation is looking more positive now; we’re expecting the report to be written for the [Council’s] Corporate Resources meeting on 14 March,” Alicia says.

Such is the centre’s reputation that Tony Blair even managed a few words on the topic during Question Time in January. “Battersea Arts Centre does a fantastic job. They should do everything they can to keep it open. It should be kept open,” he said. And, it seems, the PM is not alone in feeling dismayed by BAC’s plight. The Council has reportedly been inundated with complaints from BAC’s patrons and will likely lose a good few voters as a result of the debacle.

Sara Stickland, local business owner, Chair of Clapham Junction Town Centre and Partnership Chair of Northcote Road Business Network, has spoken out against what she considers to be a serious error in judgement on the part of the Council. “What one buys in to a community for is its community life,” she says. “That shouldn’t have to be funded by private enterprise, it’s the Council’s job. Those Councillors are our public servants, they’re our employees! We’ve vested our authority in them to represent us, not to stash away our money. If this goes on there will be no community, because places like that are a lynchpin. Children and families, elderly people, people with disabilities and so on are part of the community. Are the Council cuts just preying on the weakest? And if there is a financial crisis, why have they just agreed to spend so much extra money, nearly half a million pounds next year, on the Council’s administrative buildings?”

So, why should BAC be saved?

  • It attracts £2 million worth of investment in Wandsworth cultural life
  • It benefits 3,500 Battersea school children who enjoy BAC’s arts programme in Wandsworth schools.
  • It attracts 220,000 visitors per year including over 100,000 local visits.
  • It provides a home for 10 Battersea businesses
  • We have it to thank for launching the careers of French & Saunders, The League of Gentleman and Paul
    Merton among others.

See www.bac.org.uk for more details, full listings and online booking.