Hampstead Theatre's £760,000 arts council funding slashed

The Eton Avenue venue, which stages new writing by established and emerging playwrights, lost out in today's (November 4) announcement by Arts Council England in an 'investment programme' that favours outer London boroughs, organisations working with marginalised groups, and 'levelling up' areas outside the capital.

ACE is supporting 27 Camden organisations, including The Roundhouse, The Jewish Museum, and English Folk Dance and Song Society with £9.4 million over the next three years.Hampstead Theatre has championed new playwrighting and seen performances by the likes of Jude Law, Alan Rickman, Hayley Atwell and Tom Hardy (Image: Courtesy of Hampstead Theatre)

But Hampstead, which was founded by James Roose-Evans in 1959, saw all its funding cut. In a sad coincidence, Roose-Evans, who lived in Belsize Park, died last month aged 94.

A spokesperson for Hampsead Theatre said they were: "disappointed and saddened by Arts Council England’s decision to cut the theatre’s funding".

"We will now consider how best to ensure the future of a company which nurtures and supports so many writers and which has for so long been an essential part of British theatre. In the meantime, our current programme of new plays will continue as announced and we thank all our supporters for their ongoing commitment to our work."

Over the decades, the theatre has been a powerhouse of contemporary playwrighting, championing work by Harold Pinter, Mike Leigh, Michael Frayn, Roy Williams, Abi Morgan, and Dennis Kelly.

ACE said there was a "wider spread" of investment to outer boroughs focused on a desire from Londoners for "meaningful, high quality cultural events where they live," and a Government instruction to "distribute funding to areas of historically low cultural engagement and spending by moving £24 million of investment from London to the rest of the country with a specific focus on levelling up."

While London still receives a third of the investment for England, it has meant they were unable to fund all organisations in London that were previously funded.Roxana Silbert is the current Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre (Image: Kris Askey)

Tonya Nelson, Area Director, London, Arts Council England, said: “Our aim has been to support a broad range of organisations and artforms in every corner of London, with a clear focus on ensuring that investment goes into places that, historically, have been underserved including London’s outer boroughs. Funding these new organisations and places, will help us inspire the next generation of cultural and artistic talent and increase opportunity for people of all communities and backgrounds.”

Arts Council England Chair, Sir Nicholas Serota, who grew up in Hampstead, said: "The investment we are announcing today balances the need to protect London’s place in our nation’s creative and cultural ecology with an increase in investment across the outer boroughs and across the whole country where investment has been too low, making high quality culture available to everyone wherever they live.”