THE Yvonne Arnaud Theatre faces an undertain future after Arts Council England (ACE) announced its plans to withdraw public funding for the popular theatre. Despite the recent £50 million boost promised to ACE by the Government, a recommendation will be made at a meeting of the Arts Council England South East region on January 24, 'not to renew funding' for the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. However, a second recommendation will also be made, to continue funding the theatre until March 2009 to help 'support them during this transition'. The news that the Guildford theatre is under threat will come as a disappointment to Farnham theatre goers who have already been forced to travel further afield to see quality productions after the Redgrave Theatre closed its doors almost 10 years ago. But campaigners hoping to re-open the much loved Farnham theatre say, however, that the announcement may actually strengthen the case for bringing a theatre back to the town. Ann Cooper, chairman of the Farnham Theatre Association, said: "It is very interesting scenario. It would, however, be very sad if the Yvonne Arnaud closed, but they are finding, as we did, that public funding comes with a lot of strings attached and if you don't dance to the Arts Council's tune and put on the shows that they want to see, pretty soon the funding will stop. "What the Arts Council don't seem to realise is that it's all well and good putting on new and different productions, but if the audience doesn't want it, then they won't come. That's what happened to the Redgrave. "In our proposal, though, we have costed our project so that we won't need public funding. We propose to do what The Mill in Sonning near Reading has been doing for the past 25 years and that is to have a dinner theatre where audiences buy a ticket that includes a meal. It means we can put on the shows that our audiences want to see, which will keep them coming back for more and we won't have to dance to anybody else's tune." The Yvonne Arnaud theatre's director, James Barber, said: "This has come as an absolute shock to everyone. Over the past few years, partly with the advice and guidance from ACE, we have, as an organisation, worked incredibly hard to develop all aspects of the theatre's work following the guidance and in accordance with the priorities of the Arts Council. "In the first five months of this year alone, 20 per cent of our audiences were new attendees and the programme, both on the main stage and in the Mill Studio, is busier and more diverse than ever - something the Arts Council has already acknowledged. Despite all our efforts, the future of the Yvonne Arnaud is now severely threatened." Farnham MP Jeremy Hunt, who is the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said: "The Yvonne Arnaud is a wonderful theatre enjoyed by thousands of people every year. So for reasons of natural justice as well as artistic excellence the Arts Council should think carefully before making any decision that might endanger it." Louise Wylie, director of communications for Arts Council England said: "We recognise that the Yvonne Arnaud is a popular theatre, but we have had concerns for some time that it was not developing sufficient new work, or broadening its audiences. We have made those concerns clear to the theatre over a number of years and while some progress has been made, unfortunately we do not consider it enough to justify renewing our funding beyond March 2009. However, we are not ending our relationship with Yvonne Arnaud, we are developing a different relationship. "Arts Council regular funding represents a small percentage of the Yvonne Arnaud's overall income and we hope the theatre will use our further year's funding to explore alternatives and plan for its future. "All organisations for whom we have recommended a reduction or non-renewal of funding have until January 15 to respond and our regional council will take that response into account when making its final decision on funding towards the end of January."
