Like thousands of other people I was glued to twitter yesterday as the Arts Council England emails, announcing whether NPO applications had been successful, were opened and the contents shared. I sat for 4 hours, from 7.30am - 11.30am following the stream of announcements, the retweets and the questions, looking for news from friends and colleagues. One by one those organisations I had searched for shared their news - Brilliant! Curious Minds the new North West Bridging Organisation for children and young people, then news from Folly in Lancaster announcing they wouldn't be at the NPO party (which was the first announcement I read which felt like a punch to the chest), Burnley Youth theatre announcing their success but tinged with sadness as the news that the joint bid from Chol Theatre and Proper Job had been unsuccessful. As the hours passed I searched for news about Action Factory, about Prescap, Mid-Pennine Arts and others and the silence was deafening.

Then the email came from Prescap (I joined their board of trustees last week) and the news was bad but the resolve to find another way was evident, then Action Factory announcing that their application had not been successful but with best wishes and support to all those who had been and finally Mid-Pennine with the same bad news but on the same day as finding out that their Contemporary Heritage programme was to be funded by Modern History.

God knows how the staff teams in arts companies around the country felt yesterday and feel today: I can only imagine. I know I feel like I have just heard that there has been a terrible accident and some of my friends have survived and others haven't. Lancashire and participatory arts in the North West seem to have been hit particularly hard - when I look at the member organisations of C-Pal (the consortium for participatory arts learning) in the North West, there are few organisations on there who will retain their regular funding relationship with Arts Council after this year and that is a consortium which is made up of some of the best participatory organisations in the region, with years of experience and an outstanding commitment to the future of participatory arts.

Yesterday afternoon, after my twitter marathon, I went to a performance at a special secondary school in Burnley, a school in its third year of the Creative Partnerships change Programme and where I have been Creative Agent since September 2010. Year 7 have been working with drama practitioner Naomi Whitman and latterly, maker and puppeteer Charlotte Zunder on a project to help them to engage more with reading and stories, improve their literacy, communication skills and confidence through drama. The project has been challening for practitioners, school staff and pupils. There is an unexpectedly high proportion of pupils with emotional and behavioural problems this year, a shift from the usual cohort of pupils with learning disabilities, and this has had a huge impact on the stability and security of the class. No day is a normal day and creating an environment where learning and collaboration are central takes skill and compassion.

The performance was wonderful. It had been devised by pupils working with Naomi and their class teacher and TAs, and with props made with Charlotte it was a magical adventure telling the story of the sequel to James and the Giant Peach that Roald Dahl had neglected to write. In the midst of the challenges and chaos a beautiful process had taken place and it was evident that performers now had more confidence and were more deeply engaged than anyone had ever thought possible. They took turns, listened (mostly), spoke clearly, remembered lines and soaked up the applause at the end. Their families, fellow students, head teacher, ex-primary school teacher and yr 6 pupils who will join the school next year saw these young people blossom, demonstrating their ability to contribute positively, express themselves and succeed. They have been part of a project, in their class and as part of their curriculum, which will have had a significant impact on their learning and I hope one which they will always remember. 

So, what does this have to do with arts funding?

• Creative Partnerships, the programme which has paid for this project and for thousands more across the country has already had its funding cancelled and the programme will end this summer. The programme works in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country, teaming schools and artists together to try new approaches to teaching and learning with the aim of improving life chances for disadvataged children - and it works.
• Curious Minds, who deliver the programme in Lancashire and Merseyside, applied to be the Regional Development Agency for children and young people and were successful yesterday. They are a brilliant organisation and absolutely suited to do the job well. Curious Minds rose from the Creative Partnerships Programme, establishing themselves as a social enterprise and the Area Delivery Organisation and over the past 6 years of CP in Lancashire have supported the development of artists and arts organisations through their work. I know that, just from my own perspective, working alongside them has played a huge part in my own professional development and consequently in my ability to deliver the best outcomes for the communities, children and organisations I work with.
• Naomi Whitman is a freelance practitioner and a creative agent. Until last year she worked for Proper Job Theatre, a theatre company with a strong history both as a devising and touring company, but most significantly as an organisation who specialise in drama work with people. Naomi is a wonderful practitioner. She is skilled at devising theatre collaboratively, an excellent communicator and with a solid understanding of emotional intelligence and the power of drama as a tool for confidence building, communication and development. I am sure her time with Proper Job will have had a significant impact on her as a practitioner. Proper Job will no longer receive regular funding from Arts Council England after 2012.
• Charlotte Zunder, freelance maker and puppeteer has worked with many organisations and I first worked with her at Action Factory in 2000. I recall her describing Action Factory (and I hope she won't mind me sharing this) as 'the mother ship', a description which really summed up for me the role of Action Factory in supporting and developing artists working in participatory and community arts. This level of support is not necessarily linked to a project or chargeable time - it's an investment made in the future of the sector through supporting freelance artists and takes the form of anything from a training course, development review, cup of tea and a chat, networking opportunity, paid work or support in developing a project idea. Charlotte also brings a great deal of skill, creativity and insight to any project she works on and her input and the input of other artists to Action Factory enriches projects and the organisation's work. Arts Council subsidy is what allows organisations like Action Factory to carry out that valuable role. Action Factory will no longer receive regular funding from Arts Council England after 2012
• And finally, there is me! I went to Action Factory in 1990 on a 3 month work experience placement, a placement which changed my life and resulted in a twenty year career in community arts (so far) and has allowed me to buy and keep a house and support myself and my partner.
  Action Factory has provided learning opportunities for hundreds of artists, students and volunteers over the years, investing in their personal, artistic and educational development. This takes time, care and attention. The core team works hard to ensure that each individual has an experience which meets their needs and contributes positively to their lives. It is testament to this investment that scores of artists and individuals can count their time with Action Factory as a turning point in their lives and that many of those have gone on to become professional community artists or have used their time with the organisation to build their confidence to move on to other careers. All this is in addition to delivering projects, creating art work with people and running a business. Action Factory will no longer receive regular funding from Arts Council England after 2012.

These are just a couple of stories from behind the arts funding headlines, the headlines that paint the arts as a sector of champagne sipping luvvies and fatcat producers. I don't think any of us have any idea yet about the depth or breadth of the impact these cuts will have on the future cultural landscape, and we may never get to hear the thousands of stories of individuals (like the children involved in this project) whose lives are poorer because of the cuts. I know Arts Council had a very difficult job to do and I admire their decision to use this as an opportunity to take a fresh look at who and how they fund the arts, but looking at the scale of the cuts to existing RFOs in Lancashire and the North West I struggle to see the parity in the decisions they have made and how they are going to result in 'Great Art For Everyone'.

And I feel very, very sad.