This petition has been set up by a concerned citizen (Tom.Ogg@gmail.com) who has found the BAC an invaluable local institution for supporting the arts in South London. I've copied the press release from the BAC website, as I think it says it all, and I hope this petition serves as a means for other people who have benefitted from BAC to vent their views.

http://www.bac.org.uk/about_press.php

Please write to the Head of Wandsworth Borough Council to express your outrage.

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/moderngov/mgUserInfo.asp?UID=905&J=4


Press Release Continues:

Today Wandsworth Borough Council announced a proposal to offer BAC £85,000 funding in 2007/8 and 2008/9 subject to an agreement being reached between the council and BAC regarding a new lease on the Old Town Hall.

This updates the council’s former position, announced to BAC in a letter dated 8 January, in which the Council informed BAC of its intention to cut BAC’s funding from £100,000 per annum to £0 with effect from April 1 2007, and charge the organisation over £270,000 annually in rent and running costs from May.

The Council’s new proposal of the £85,000 funding will still result in BAC’s closure if the rent and running cost proposals of £270,000 proceed.

BAC is meeting the Council this week to discuss this matter further.



For more information please contact Alicia Gelassakis, Press and Communications Officer on
020 7326 8222 or aliciag@bac.org.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

Facts about BAC:

1. won the Best Community Contribution Award at Wandsworth Council’s Business Awards 2006
2. attracts 2 million pounds worth of investment in Wandsworth cultural life
3. benefits 3500 Battersea school children who enjoy BAC’s arts programme in Wandsworth schools (a programme that invests 300k investment in Wandsworth schools)
4. is planning to provide the opportunity for every Battersea child to perform on one of BAC's stages in an annual schools festival
5. attracts 220,000 visitors per year including over 100,000 local visits, people would have to look outside the borough if BAC were to close
6. is a great occupant for a Grade II* listed public building
7. provides Wandsworth with a flagship arts organistion in the borough improving the quality of life in the borough
8. is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary as an arts centre that is created by and for the people of Wandsworth
9. provides a home for 10 Battersea businesses
10. is currently in receipt of funding from Wandsworth Borough Council that costs Wandsworth residents 38p each per year in council tax.

Artists who have emerged from BAC
An extraordinary array of artists have started and developed their careers at BAC over the last twenty-five years, including Ian Rickson, French & Saunders, Cheek By Jowl, Complicite, Kneehigh Theatre, Harry Hill, The League of Gentlemen, Paul Merton, Faulty Optic, DV8, The Right Size, and cultural leaders such as Jude Kelly, Simon Mellor, Tom Morris and Fuel (current Lyric Theatre producers). BAC has most recently seen a 5 star sell-out success with its Christmas show, Rapunzel, a co-production with acclaimed company and BAC Associate Artists Kneehigh Theatre.

BAC’s Edinburgh award winners in 2006:
BAC developed shows and artists won a staggering quarter of all the theatre awards available at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2006 including:
BAC: Total Theatre Award
Particularly in the Heartland by The T.E.A.M: Fringe First
Food by The Imaginary Body: Fringe First (UK tour 2007)
Hysteria by Inspector Sands and Stamping Ground: Total Theatre Award (now performing at the South Bank Centre)
The Receipt by Will Adamsdale & Chris Branch Produced by Fuel: Fringe First and Total Theatre Award (now performing at the Lyric Hammersmith)
Past Half Remembered by NIE: Herald Angel and Total Theatre Award (featuring as part of an NIE trilogy in BAC's Main House in Spring 2007)

Previous award-winning shows include:
Jerry Springer: The Opera by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas (awards included Best Musical at the Olivier Awards, the Critics' Circle Awards and the Evening Standard Awards: TMA Award for Best Touring Production in 2006)
Taylor’s Dummies / The Race by Gecko Theatre produced by Fuel (The Race:Total Theatre Award 2005, Brits Off Broadway)
Something Dark by Lemn Sissay (2005 RIMA Award for Best Radio Drama)
Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers by Kazuko Hohki (Total Theatre Award 2005, Herald Angel Award 2005, national touring)

BAC’s Ladder of Development & Artist and Producer Collaboration:
BAC delivers the UK’s most exciting artist development scheme incorporating;
Monthly work in progress showings through Scratch, Freshly Scratched and new music strand TILT, leading to the development of new ideas for theatre via BAC’s Ladder of Development.
An annual Graduates festival showing the best work coming out of the degree shows of the UK’s most contemporary performing arts BA courses.
A group of 350 artists who are called the Artist & Producer Brainstorming group, a Supported Artists scheme, an Associate Artists programme and a BAC and Jerwood Supported Producer scheme which for the last two years has been supporting Fuel who recently became the producer for The Lyric Theatre.

Prime Minister’s Questions 17 January 2007:
Martin Linton (Battersea): Is the Prime Minister as appalled as I am by the decision of Conservative councillors in Wandsworth to close Battersea Arts Centre and to try to blame Government grants even though Wandsworth is in no danger of being capped, has the lowest council tax in the country, has huge reserves and gets excellent value for its £100,000-a-year grant to Battersea Arts Centre, having just given them a Wandsworth Business Award for Best Community Contribution?

Prime Minister: I agree that Battersea Arts Centre does a fantastic job. They should do everything they can to keep it open. It should be kept open.

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