“THERE is no doubt that without a strong Anvil, the brand of Basingstoke becomes weaker.” These are the words of the chairman of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce which, alongside the Basingstoke branch, has voiced its support for Anvil Arts’ ‘Reverse the Cut’ campaign. The Anvil Trust - which runs The Anvil and The Haymarket venues - has launched an appeal calling on the council to reconsider its recent decision to reduce its annual funding by £400,000, more than 50 per cent. Senior councillors have previously raised concerns about the financial management of the organisation, which have been refuted by CEO Matthew Cleaver in wide-ranging interviews with this newspaper.
THE ongoing campaign of Anvil Arts to reverse Basingstoke council’s 50 per cent funding cut was front of centre of a national newspaper column last week. In his piece, suggesting that the UK government focus on grassroots causes rather than the interests of wealthy celebrities, The Times’ music critic and arts columnist Richard Morrison referenced the borough council’s decision to “lop” 50 per cent from the Anvil’s £800,000 annual grant on top of the 40 per cent “whittled away” over the past seven years and a £1.4 million loss of earned income during Covid. The organisation’s CEO Matthew Cleaver went on to call on councillors to reconsider, but this was met by an open letter from the council’s leader and deputy, questioning the arts trust’s business plans, which caused confusion to Mr Cleaver who argued that the council has had quarterly reports for the past 26 years.
Reverse the Cut: Anvil Arts to ramp up campaign with projections beamed at its venues ANVIL Arts is set to ramp up its campaign against Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s decision to cut funding by beaming large projections this evening (Friday). The windows of The Anvil and The Haymarket will both be used to project the campaign slogan #ReverseTheCut. The council had earlier agreed to Anvil Arts will film the projections and share them live on their Facebook page, encouraging people to watch them from home and avoiding any crowds gathering outside. Alongside the projections, the organisation has also released an ‘Impact Report’, which sets out the compelling reasons for protecting and supporting arts and entertainment in Basingstoke and reversing the cut.
THE chief executive of Anvil Arts has disputed the claims of two senior councillors that the arts trust’s ‘strategic planning’ is not up to scratch. In an open letter earlier this month responding to Anvil Art’s campaign calling on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to reverse its 50 per cent cut in funding, council leader Cllr Ken Rhatigan and deputy Cllr Simon Bound raised concerns over the management of Anvil Arts. They pointed out that the organisation has been given £1.1million in public money to sustain themselves during the pandemic but said it hasn’t ‘adequately prepared’ itself for recovery.
THE chief executive of Anvil Arts has thanked the Basingstoke public for supporting the #ReverseTheCut petition - which now has nearly 6,000 signatures. The petition, set up by arts organisation Campaign for the Arts, calls on Basingstoke Council to retract its recently-announced £4,000 funding cut to the trust. It gained more than 5,000 signatures in the first week, and is the platform’s fastest growing appeal to date. Anvil Arts’ CEO, Matthew Cleaver, said: “We’re really pleased that they’ve got behind the issue, and also obviously absolutely amazed by the number of people who have already signed the petition. “The people’s voices should be listened to by the council I think, it’s significant numbers. It adds weight to the idea that the council should reverse the cut.”