We should welcome more funding and greater access to the arts across the country, but not at any price (ENO to relocate as arts funding diverted away from London, 4 November).
Arts Council England’s decision to withdraw funding from English National Opera almost certainly means the end of the company, and it will not provide greater access to opera for more people. The result will be levelling down rather than levelling up. ENO currently serves a catchment area way beyond the capital and is an attraction for visitors from all over the UK and overseas. The ending of almost full-time opera at the Coliseum means that the public will have less access to it.
What does relocating to Manchester mean? Assuming a venue is found, who will pay for it and who will fund either a resident season or touring or both? And what will be the impact on Leeds-based Opera North (which began life as an outpost of ENO)? At a time of intense competition for both public and private funds, the impact of fundraising for ENO in Manchester on Opera North, the Hallé and other arts companies in the north is likely to be negative.
I ask these questions as I was responsible for fundraising at ENO from 1989 to 1996. In 1992, the government bought the Coliseum as a permanent home for ENO to provide full-time affordable opera. In response, private donors and the lottery gave £41m to restore it. Arts Council England proposes that ENO will continue to manage the Coliseum, but as a venue for commercial hire. This is not a proper use of public money and will betray the commitment of all who have contributed to restoration of the Coliseum as a home for affordable opera. The result of this disgraceful and misguided policy will be less opera, not more.
John Nickson
Director of development, English National Opera, 1989-96
• Arts Council England’s decision is indefensible (ENO mounts fightback against edict to leave London, 10 November). It brutally curtails the vital work of companies that have built up their unique artistic profile over many years. It is a slap in the face for those who have made every effort to offer a life-enhancing, high-quality experience to the public at affordable prices, and with an awareness of their social responsibilities. And it jeopardises the livelihoods of hundreds of people.
Venues across Britain are all in need of more financial assistance, but the doctrine of taking money from London to distribute it in other areas is unfair and illogical. London is one of the world’s artistic centres, attracting an enormous number of visitors from abroad. Berlin, Paris and Vienna all proudly support three opera houses; surely two in London are not too many.
From a human point of view, the expectation that hundreds of ENO employees can relocate to Manchester is crass and unfeeling, and treats people as pawns. Very few are free to make such a huge change; they have children at school, partners with jobs, family ties, and other local roots. Instead of caving in to the government’s philistine policies, Arts Council England should have the courage to fight for real support for the arts in every part of the country, including the capital.
Tony Lamb
Former principal clarinet, ENO
• In response to the article by Mark Wigglesworth (Defunding ENO is devastating – but the writing was on the wall, 10 November), I hope I am one of thousands of Guardian readers expressing how much English National Opera has enriched my life – introducing 19-year-old me to the glories of Wagner in 1971, and subsequently to all the genius and brilliance of Handel, Janáček , Britten and so forth.
Visiting the Coliseum from a depressed, impoverished coastal town, coming from an oppressive, stressed and strenuous work place, ENO offered me a glimmer of hope, order and beauty beyond the humdrum – beyond clinical depression at times too.
We have a government that it is euphemistic to call Lilliputian in its self-centred pettiness and vanity, but that Arts Council England should include no one with a commitment to and understanding of our shared cultural heritage is worse than shocking.
There is no good way out of this other than a radical U-turn – a return to fully funding ENO so that it can continue to perform the full range of the operatic repertoire.
Elspeth Knights
St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex
• As a Mancunian with a penchant for opera, I would be hugely happy to have a resident company, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone. Here in the north we have a thriving cultural life and plenty of venues that could easily house ENO, including the all-new Warehouse.
Oh but of course – the problem here is that Londoners expect London to be the only place that does culture, and furthermore expect people living elsewhere in England to travel to the crown jewel that is our capital. Leaving aside the absence of an affordable train system, functional roads or nice, cheap accommodation that would make this possible, perhaps Martin Kettle, who says the decision to stop funding ENO if it will not move out of London will “reshape the shared cultural landscape for the worse” (Opinion, 10 November) should give some thought to the local government cuts that have ravaged the arts outside the capital.
A little bit of support for regional arts would be a pleasant change (in Bury, the council can barely offer any money to our arts centre and now our gallery is under threat). English National Opera can be housed anywhere in England. But we’d treasure it in Manchester.
Joanne Columbine
Bury, Greater Manchester
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