Vasily Petrenko and Liverpool Philharmonic Respond to Liverpool City Council’s Draft Budget Proposals
News Release
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Vasily Petrenko and Liverpool Philharmonic Respond to Liverpool City Council’s Draft Budget Proposals
Liverpool Philharmonic responded today following the publication of Liverpool City Council’s draft budget proposals which propose a 20% cut to its revenue grant for 2011/12.
The music organisation, often referred to as the jewel in Liverpool’s cultural crown, at the centre of which is the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, faces a reduction in funding of £284,000 on its current revenue grant of £1.42 million pounds from Liverpool City Council.
In October 2010, Arts Council England announced a cut of 6.9% to its revenue funded organisations for 2011/12, which in real terms for Liverpool Philharmonic represents a loss of grant of £166,000. With the proposed 20% cut in revenue from Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Philharmonic faces a reduction in revenue of £450,000 in 2011/12, with further cuts likely from other local authorities.
Responding to the budget proposals, Vasily Petrenko, Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra said:
“We are grateful for the confidence and investment that Liverpool City Council gives to this organisation. It has enabled us to deliver great music to thousands of people every year here in Liverpool, across the UK and internationally. We have achieved a huge amount together and there is still a lot more we can achieve for ourselves and for the City and people of Liverpool, but all this could be lost very quickly with a reduction in funding of this scale. The most successful orchestras in the world are those which have artistic ambition fully backed by their local City. It is only with this backing that we can continue to achieve world class standards and give Liverpool the economic and artistic benefit we have been providing in recent years.”
Michael Eakin, Chief Executive of Liverpool Philharmonic added:
“We understand the difficulty of the task that Liverpool City Council faces and fully accept that we must share the pain of cuts along with others in the culture sector and indeed, every other area of Council services. However, despite that fact that we generate two thirds of our own income through our own activities, a cut of this magnitude threatens to undermine all that this organisation has achieved in recent years, supported by the City’s investment. It jeopardises our ability to stay on track and sustain a world-class professional symphony orchestra in Liverpool.
“Liverpool Philharmonic is delivering music-making of the highest quality through its symphony orchestra led by Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko, one of the most sought after classical music artists in the world today; through Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, one of the UK’s premiere venues and through a Learning programme that is using the unique power of music to improve health and well-being, aid educational attainment and contribute to community transformation and regeneration.
“Liverpool Philharmonic has led on behalf of the City the bid now under consideration to be nominated as a UNESCO City of Music and our artistic success has enabled us to secure significant sponsorship and private philanthropy and deliver further investment directly into the City. In the last three years, we have successfully bid for and won £730,000 over three years to deliver the Department for Education’s In Harmony music programme in West Everton; secured over half a million pounds of ERDF funding to develop the former Friary church in West Everton into a second rehearsal, recording and education venue, also used by In Harmony and the West Everton Children’s Orchestra; and with other cultural partners in the City, secured £2.4 million to deliver the Find Your Talent scheme for young people. These and a number of our other initiatives are having positive impacts across the City’s cultural, social, education, health, regeneration and economic agendas.”
Ends
Further information from Jayne Garrity, Head of Communications; tel: 0151 210 3791/07967364241; email
