Arts funding in the UK has for far too long been built on a foundation of ever-shifting financial sand. 

The Committee for Encouragement of Music and the Arts was set up in 1946. Funding uncertainty has been its constant companion ever since, invariably based on varying degrees of political support or contempt.

From Jenny Lee (the first Arts Minster) to Norman Tebbit, and more latterly the plethora of short term ministerial appointments, changes have been implemented (Arts Council England came into being in 2003) through numerous reviews and strategic reports; from ‘Glory of the Garden’ (by William Rees Mogg – father of Jacob) in the 1980s, to ‘Great Art and Culture for Everyone’ in 2013 and the more recent ‘Let’s Create’ ethos. 

The latest tremors felt came with the proposed recommendations outlined in the Baroness Hodge Review

The latest tremors felt came with the proposed recommendations outlined in the Baroness Hodge Review (see https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2025/2120.asp ) – ones with enough seismic force to reduce the current aims and policy pillars of Arts Council England to rubble.  

The Baroness Hodge report was widely praised

Shell body

Broadly welcomed by supporters and critics alike (from arts organisations to The Daily Telegraph), the Labour Peer’s report wrecked ACE’s inherent “change society”  ethos that she said had simply led to it “stifling artistic innovation and creativity”.

It is now a shell body inhabited by zombie apparatchiks doling out one-year ‘aid’ cheques to beleaguered organisations, who not for the first time are faced with their own sustainable long term planning strategies being dependent on yet another ‘completely new model’ of core funding.

It is now a shell body inhabited by zombie apparatchiks doling out one-year ‘aid’ cheques to beleaguered organisations

Good and bad news

The good news is that the extensive list of recommendations based on ‘highest quality standards’  and ‘artistic excellence’  put forward by Baroness Hodge are supported by the current Labour Government. 

The bad news though is that given Sir Keir Starmer’s current woes, you suspect that offering the arts extra cash at a time when the economy remains stagnant and bills are soon to get their annual April uprating, isn’t really a vote winner.   

Small comfort

For the time being then, Brass Bands England (BBE) and the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain (NYBBGB), as an ACE Investment Principles Support Organisation and National Portfolio Organisation respectively, can take comfort from any small uplift in their funding (just over £400,000 and £120,000 per annum respectively) to help tide them through to 2028 when the proposed new 5 year cycle begins. 

It could have been much, much worse, especially for BBE, as they found that business and grant providers had certainly taken early note of the proposed Hodge changes, and in the run up to its announcement had significantly reduced their streams of financial assistance.  

It could have been much, much worse, especially for BBE, as they found that business and grant providers had certainly taken early note of the proposed Hodge changes

Wasted energy

As adherents of Arts Council England policies such as its ‘Let’s Create’ strategy, BBE and the NYBBGB arguably found themselves tied to an ethos that they had already embraced and had made substantial progress in implementing. 

As a result, they had to waste energy and focus on the endless process of having to repeatedly tick the same limited impact funding boxes (with occasional small variations) time and time again.  

BBE had to watse time continually ticking boxes to get ACE funding

Less aware

However, where the NYBBGB held an informed ear to the ground and could understand the financial direction of travel being signalled by Baroness Hodge’s review enquiries, a somewhat less aware BBE (perhaps readily believing the alleged whispered promises of increased funding from ACE) arguably failed to respond effectively enough to cover the overextended spread of its cost foundations.   

It almost came at a dire price. 

a somewhat less aware BBE (perhaps readily believing the alleged whispered promises of increased funding from ACE) arguably failed to respond effectively enough to cover the overextended spread of its cost foundations.   

They were not alone – not by a long chalk, but this was a stark reminder of just how precarious arts funding streams have become.   

Truth in black and white

A brave face was put on the situation with its reports at the BBE AGM, but the truth was in black and white.  The BBE Treasurer's financial report called it, "a very challenging financial year"  (to 31st March 2025), one which had seen expenditure exceed income by £116,204 due to "committing resources before income streams had been fully secured."

Any new ACE or grant funding will now only be spent once safely deposited in the BBE bank account.

Like others, it has seen its bank balance take an almighty beating, although thanks to the intervention of experienced business professionals, financial sustainability has been reinstated, restructuring undertaken and essential jobs saved.

Any new ACE or grant funding will now only be spent once safely deposited in the BBE bank account.

That offers optimism.

Better placed

Now, with over 500 organisations comprising 672 individual bands, a new focus on what the Hodge Review says should be, “excellence for all that allows each organisation or individual to apply according to their strengths and the unique contribution they can make to delivering a vibrant and innovative creative sector”,  BBE should be better placed than most to secure future funding for more readily understandable objectives (such as its outstanding Brass Foundations work) for its members.  

BBE should be better placed than most to secure future funding for more readily understandable objectives

Wake up call

It will certainly be more attuned to potential changes in future funding streams if it can help revive some level of overdue Westminster influence with a new All Party Parliamentary Group.  Its absence has put brass banding at a huge disadvantage.  The good news is that there is support. The bad news is that brass banding is playing catch-up to other arts and culture bodies who already have this essential representation in place. 

The last few months have been an almighty wake-up call for BBE – but the response it seems has been one of focussed, realistic ambition. 

The last few months have been an almighty wake-up call for BBE – but the response it seems has been one of focussed, realistic ambition. 

Experienced intervention

In that respect, the Hodge Review should also offer good news for the NYBBGB (which to the year ending 31st March 2025 had turned two years of deficit of around £55k to a surplus of close on £130k).  

It wasn’t that long ago that it too faced severe financial challenges.  The intervention of experienced management also reinvigorated its financial solidity and outlook. 

EBBA model

Elsewhere, other organisations, from individual bands to national level contests, concert venues to music businesses are having to balance their aims of artistic excellence to the new financial reality of sponsorship squeezes and rising costs – and not just directly to what has happened recently in the UK.  

EBBA for instance is having to look for a potential new venue for the European Championships in 2028 (to have been held in Birmingham hosted by BBE), allied to ongoing criticism that its own financial structuring needs to be overhauled to more directly benefit its competing bands.

Others may disagree, but with reportedly around 100,000 Euros in the bank, it is in a fairly secure place to sidestep any immediate financial quicksand.

EBBA President Ulf Rosenberg (above) recently spoke of the “model that works” in that he said seven alternative 2028 venues were being explored. 

Others may disagree, but with reportedly around 100,000 Euros in the bank, it is in a fairly secure place to sidestep any immediate financial quicksand.

New Spring Festival era

Elsewhere, the British Open is set to host the 2026 Spring Festival over a weekend in Birmingham amid grumbles of hotel costs, venue accessibility and its own past financial opaqueness.  

The Mortimer family has taken a brave step into a new era at a time when others may well have resisted the temptation to take the event away from Blackpool. Whether it pays off in more ways than one we will have to wait and see. 

Kapitol defies odds

Meanwhile, Kapitol Promotions somehow defies the financial odds in hosting the National Finals at the financial sinkholes of the Royal Albert Hall and Cheltenham, whilst the Regional Championship series continues to be run by a remarkable set of age-defying volunteers. 

a Hodge proposed endowment fund with tax breaks for both individuals and companies for arts events offers potential hope.  

Whether or not the National Championships, British Open, Spring Festival, National Youth Championships and Brass in Concert can benefit directly from Arts Council funding in the immediate future seems unlikely, although a Hodge proposed endowment fund with tax breaks for both individuals and companies for arts events offers potential hope.  

Scots and Welsh

That may be something for the Scottish Brass Band Association to look into (through Creative Scotland) after recently revealing at its AGM that it hadn’t gained funding for the Scottish Youth Brass Band or education initiatives, whilst Wales may finally get funding for an effective national body to call its own, if, unlike its own beleaguered Rugby Union, it can gain grass roots support.  

On the flip side though, after a huge amount of work the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Department of Communities and EA Music Service has supported the creation of the new National Youth Brass Band of Northern Ireland.

On the flip side though, after a huge amount of work the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Department of Communities and EA Music Service has supported the creation of the new National Youth Brass Band of Northern Ireland.

In Scotland, the Music Education Partnership Group continues to be a successful pressure group of considerable influence – one that has ensured free music tuition is provided in Scottish schools.   

Local authority duty

And whilst music hubs and peripatetic services elsewhere continue to be salami-sliced through financial pressures on local authority spending priorities, if the Hodge Report is supported in full, the government will create a statutory duty for local government to prepare a cultural strategy every 5 years which should encompass the arts, culture, and heritage.  

Yet there has perhaps never been a time in recent history when such exciting future possibilities for the funding of the arts, and for brass banding, have been so clearly stated either.  

Never has there been a time when the challenges faced by players, bands, organisations and even National bodies in the UK banding movement have been so obvious and pronounced.

Yet there has perhaps never been a time in recent history when such exciting future possibilities for the funding of the arts, and for brass banding, have been so clearly stated either.  

And despite the wobbles and concerns in some quarters of late, perhaps we have never had the opportunity to benefit from them so well too.  

All we have to do is have a much better understanding of the warning signs telling us what’s happening beneath our feet.

Iwan Fox