Dance Mapping - Arts Council England

Table 28 shows the average expenditure from 2005–2008. There is a small increase in dance
expenditure in 2007/8 against a decrease in arts budgets and total spend on the arts. In-kind
support has also decreased.
The questionnaire asked respondents to identify levels of expenditure on relevant activites
linked to dance activity. The lowest expenditure is on dance companies. The highest level of
direct expenditure on dance includes spend on dance agencies, although only 40% of
respondents spent in this area, whereas 66% spent an average of just under £7,000 on youth
dance. The high spend on ‘Other’, by 36.7% of respondents of £47,700 includes professional
development, older people, community arts, co-ordination and evaluation of programmes.
Although the trends show an increase in expenditure on dance against a total arts budget, it
is difficult to generalise as the sample is not sufficiently broad due to the absence of the
higher spending metropolitan authorities.
The illustration below demonstrates how one local authority invests in dance:
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council invests significantly in the arts and cultural infrastructure of the city
with an overall arts budget of £10.5 million. Dance plays a significant part in this infrastructure
with five out of the ten large-scale organisations presenting or receiving dance (mac, sampad,
The Drum, BRB and DanceXchange). Sampad have an international reputation for bringing
international Indian dance artists to Birmingham and encouraging through their Summer
Intense programmes links with Canada, USA and India for the next generation of dancers and
choreographers. The council set up a Dance Hub initiative in 2005, to bring together all the
dance providers to look at issues of common interest, as there has been a long-held
aspiration to create a continuum for dance in the city, which has to a large extent been
realised. The large-scale Dance Consortium regularly presents international companies and
the innovative Breakin’ Convention tour in the Birmingham Hippodrome is developing new
audiences for dance. The Birmingham Hippodrome is the home to Birmingham Royal Ballet
and DanceXchange, who form a powerhouse for dance and together they programme the
biennial International Dance Festival. Elmhurst Ballet School with prime studios and small-
scale theatre, together with BRB, Dancexchange and mac, all provide Birmingham with
excellent state of the art dance studios and performance spaces, which are the best outside
London.
The International Dance Festival of 2008 was funded by Birmingham City Council, Advantage
West Midlands and Arts Council England and was produced and programmed by
DanceXchange and Birmingham Hippodrome for the first time in May 2008. Over the course
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