English National Opera has lost its annual grant as one of Arts Council England’s national portfolio of funded organisations. It’s the highest profile of the organisations to see a significant – or in some cases total – reduction of annual funding, as part an increased redistribution of government money away from London and towards other parts of the country.

Currently based at London’s Coliseum, the organisation – founded to champion the performance of opera in the English language – will lose its £12.6m annual core grant. Instead, it is to receive £17m over three years as part of a plan to move its location, with Manchester cited by ENO as a possible new home.

Commenting on the decision, Arts Council England Chair Sir Nick Serota said there were now ‘opportunities that exist for English National Opera to become a different kind of company working across the country,’ adding ‘They are capable of responding, in our view. They've got great leadership. They have great achievement, and there seems to us to be an opportunity here that we should grasp.’

For its part, the ENO - which plans to continue to manage the London Coliseum - said in a statement: 'The ENO has vision and purpose and we aim to support the levelling up agenda by reimagining opera for future generations across England'.

There was a reduction in spending for opera elsewhere too: the Royal Opera House saw a reduction in its annual Arts Council funding, the single biggest grant given to any organisation, from £25.2m to £22.6m; Welsh National Opera (which receives funding for its touring work in England) had its grant cut by £2.2m a year to £4m; Glyndebourne, which receives money for its touring work, saw its grant slightly more than halved to £800k a year. English Touring Opera, however, saw an increase from £1.78m to £2.13m.

Several major London orchestras saw reductions in their grants – including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic and Philhamonia. Many non-London organisations, however, saw funding maintained at current grant levels for the next three years – albeit in an era of significant inflation – including Britten Pears Arts (which runs Aldeburgh Festival), the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, as well as, in London, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Wigmore Hall Trust.

But one acclaimed – and non-London – ensemble to lose all of its grant is the Cambridge-based Britten Sinfonia. The orchestra is regularly praised in our pages for its work on record, whether on Alison Balsom's latest album 'Quiet City', a recent recording of music by Richard Blackford or a praised performance of Grayson Ive's Requiem, while a companion piece to Mozart's Gran Partita which the orchestra commissioned from Mark Simpson was shortlisted in last year's Gramophone Awards. The orchestra said on social media: 'We never took our NPO status for granted, but like many of you we are mystified by the 100% cut'; many of its admirers in the music world have been less measured with their words since the announcement was made. 

There was, however, good news for the Chineke! Foundation, which supports Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians, and which was added to the Arts Council portfolio and will receive a grant of £700k per year. Another new addition was the Peckham-based Multi-Story Music organisation, which will receive £150k a year. The Aurora Orchestra saw its funding increased from £93k to £143k a year, while the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain was given an increase from £131k to £252k per year. NMC also saw an increase of almost 20 percent, to £50k, in recognition of its work in promoting contemporary composers.

In total, 990 organisations – including 276 new ones - will receive a share of the total £446m every year between 2023 and 2026. According to the Arts Council, this includes a ‘20 per cent increase in organisations delivering creative and cultural activity for children and young people’, and a 95 per cent increase in money going to the 78 towns and cities designated Levelling Up for Culture Places, such as Blackburn with Darwen, North Devon and Mansfield.

Arts Council England Chief Executive, Darren Henley, said: ‘This is our widest ever spread of investment across the country, ensuring that many more people will have access to a wider choice of exceptional art, culture and creative opportunities on their doorsteps'.

'Everyone deserves to enjoy the benefits it brings, and with this investment, we believe we’ve taken a decisive step towards making that vision a reality,' he added.