Nicholas Serota defends ACE after Wigmore Hall declines further funding

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Nicholas Serota. Photo: Hugh Glendinning

The chair of Arts Council England has defended the organisation’s Let’s Create strategy after Wigmore Hall boss John Gilhooly called its expectations "onerous".

Nicholas Serota has congratulated the classical music venue for its "achievement" at fundraising sufficient funds to exit ACE’s national portfolio, but said its decision to go its own way would not deter ACE from championing the ten-year policy.

It follows the news that Wigmore Hall will turn its back on an annual £344,000 in ACE support from April next year, having raised £10 million in private donations.

Artistic director Gilhooly had said the venue felt it was "better off being independent" because of the expectations ACE placed on funded organisations.

He had told the Times: "We totally agree with community outreach but when you add up the people that every NPO reaches, then there are still millions of disenfranchised children who get nothing.

"There is a systematic problem with music in the classroom and the Let’s Create strategy is, effectively, asking us to step in."

But Serota today (April 8) released a letter defending the value of both public funding and Let’s Create.
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Wigmore Hall rejects public funding as venue leader criticises ACE strategy

He wrote: "We welcome the news that, from 2026, Wigmore Hall will no longer require the support of public investment. We congratulate its leader, John Gilhooly, for raising £10 million in private donations in the space of a year and wish him every success as he charts a new path for his organisation and its outstanding work.

"But Wigmore Hall’s achievement at fundraising in a wealthy part of central London cannot and must not be used as an argument against public funding for culture, which remains essential, especially in the current economic climate."

Pointing to pressures on local authority funding, a steady reduction in the "real value" of national investment, and rising costs, Serota said that without public funding, "the privileged few will be all we have left".

He continued: "We understand that Wigmore Hall based its decision to no longer take public funding in part on a dissatisfaction with our strategy, Let’s Create.

"It is our view that the principle that underpins this strategy – that everyone in this country, no matter what their background or where they come from, deserves access to the very best of creativity and culture in the places where they live and work – is both just and justifiable."

Arguing in favour of the "enhanced opportunities for people and communities across England" that Serota said Let’s Create had enshrined, the letter concluded: "We will continue to champion it and the creative individuals and organisations that sustain culture in this country."

The letter is co-signed by members of ACE’s national and area councils, and has been published to the organisation’s website.

A representative for Wigmore Hall previously told The Stage that the venue remained wholeheartedly committed to its "sector-leading outreach work" and "diversity in programming".

They said Wigmore Hall’s decision to "step away from the ACE portfolio" was in "no way a rejection of that commitment", but added: "Evaluating concert programming and outreach work using the same criteria fundamentally misunderstands the distinct nature of each, and risks compromising standards in both."