There can be no happier man in brass banding in the UK at the present time than Mike Kilroy, Chairman of Brass Bands England, following the announcement of a remarkable 142.3% increase in the organisation’s core funding over the next three years by Arts Council England.

Huge increase

The announcement of the 2015 — 2018 National Portfolio Organisation funding will see Brass Bands England given an annual budget of £142,000 — a huge increase on its existing amount of around £62,000 per year.

Understandably then, Mike was delighted by today’s news, especially as only around 9% of the 690 organisations which applied, received any real term increase.

Strong case

"It’s wonderful news," he told 4BR. "I knew we had put forward a very strong, well researched and presented case, but given the current financial climate, to gain exactly what we set out to achieve is testament to the hard work of everyone associated with Brass Bands England."

He added: "We had to ensure we presented compelling evidence of the social and economic impact of our ongoing work, the development of new strategies and how our aims and objectives would benefit the whole of the banding movement in England.

The evidence of 119 organisations benefiting from 34 events BBE was an integral part of in the past year or so was a major plus point in our ambitious presentation bid."

Winners and losers

Although there were other music organisations that also gained three year funding increases, there were also many other high profile bodies such as symphony orchestras and opera companies that received significant cuts, including the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Opera Company, English National Opera and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Good news for National Youth

There was also good news for the funding of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, which remains unchanged over the next three years at £118,140 per annum, whilst critics of the money spent on ‘elite opera’ will be pleased to know that the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden will have to make do with just over £74million over the next three years — a cut of around 6%.

Key

Mike also revealed the first details of how the BBE funding would be used, with a much more focussed, professional organisation working towards long term sustainability and resilience for brass bands at all levels.

"That’s the key. It’s a huge responsibility — and one we have to ensure we focus on from the word go.

It will see BBE employ a full time Operations Manager from January 2015, who will be responsible for implementing BBE‘s strategic plan alongside three full time Liaison Officers, covering the North/Yorkshire, North West/Midlands and Southern Counties/West of England respectively.

A Board of Trustees will give strategic direction which will focus on collaboration and partnerships, long term sustainability and resilience."

These are exciting times for Brass Bands England, and I hope for all brass bands and banding organisations we can now work alongside to help develop and prosperBBE Chairman, Mike Kilroy

Important changes

Mike also revealed that important changes had already taken place within BBE, with significant cost savings seeing Philip Watson made redundant from his National Development Officer role, a post he held since 2005.

Meanwhile, Rachel Veitch-Straw will become the Liaison Officer with responsibility for the North of England and Yorkshire from April 2015. It was also announced that it is hoped that a full time administrative assistant will be employed at the BBE National Office in Barnsley.

Exciting times

As Mike Kilroy concluded: "These are exciting times for Brass Bands England, and I hope for all brass bands and banding organisations we can now work alongside to help develop and prosper."