Hammersmith's Riverside Studios face an uncertain future after discovering they have lost their funding from the Arts Council.

The studios, in Crisp Road, W6 were amongst the biggest casualties in Wednesday's announcement of funding beyond 2012 by Arts Council England, or ACE.

They were among 206 organisations currently receiving regular funding who applied to join ACE’s new national portfolio and instead had their funding completely axed.

Across England, a quarter of the theatres, galleries and orchestras receiving funding from Arts Council England lost all their government grants. They include a number of local companies.

Kingston Rose’s artistic director Stephen Unwin, artistic director of Kingston's Rose Theatre, which has also been refused funding, hit out at the decision saying: " With cuts announced for the Waterman’s in Hounslow, the Orange Tree in Richmond, the Battersea Arts Centre in Wandsworth and Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, the funding situation in south west London is now worse than ever and the contrast with east London ‚ especially the Olympic Boroughs is stark.

" It’s clear that a large part of the Mayor of London’s cultural strategy has been ignored."

Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of Arts Council England, said: "This is about a resilient future for the arts in England. We have taken the brave path of strategic choices not salami slices which has meant some painful decisions, and it is with great regret that we have had to cease funding some good organisations."

Riverside Studios are currently presenting renowned actor Edward Fox in a one man performance called Trollope: One Man in Barsetshire, which closes on April 2, and the British premiere of Shore by the award-winning playwright Wajdi Mouawad.

On April 1 the studios launch a season of Italian cinema, while the result Kids' Movie Club continues on Saturday. There is also an exhibition posters by Franciszek Starowieyski, one of the most distinguished Polish artists of the post-war period, running until April 10.

A spokesman for Riverside Studios said a statement will be made on Friday, April 1.

 

March 31, 2011