Two Chichester venues to continue receiving funding
Just over £300,000 will go to the Festival Theatre and Pallant House Gallery
Councillors have recommended that grants given to a theatre and art gallery in Chichester be extended for another year.
The Festival Theatre and the Pallant House Gallery have received cultural grants of £187,500 and £130,000 respectively since 2018.
The funding had been extended to March 2025 to allow for the completion of a joint social and economic impact assessment.
It has now been extended again while the district council waits to find out how much money it will receive from the government so that it can plan its finances – such as the handing out of grants – with more certainty.
During a meeting last Tuesday (November 19), John Cross, cabinet member for culture, sport & place, said the grants would run until March 31 2026.
Looking at the results of the economic assessments, Mr Cross said that the theatre’s economic output for 2022/23 was £26.6m while the gallery’s was £7.1m.
This meant that, for every £1 of council funding, the venues generated £141 and £54 respectively.
He added: “We’re getting good value for money here.”
Looking at the social value of the venues, Mr Cross said that, in 2022/23, the theatre held 526 performances across 43 productions, selling more than 330,000 tickets – 30% from within the district and 70% outside.
There were more than 80,000 spaces on its learning, education and participation programme.
As for the gallery, of the 57,143 visitors that year, 85% were from outside the district. And more than 2,000 schoolchildren took part in its programme of activities.