The British Council, the UK’s worldwide group for cultural relations, is contemplating promoting a few of its spectacular artwork assortment to offset its £197 million debt.
The group holds some 9,000 works of Twentieth- and Twenty first-century British artwork, together with work by David Hockney, Lucian Freud, and John Akomfrah. With no everlasting exhibition area, round 20 p.c of the works are on show within the UK or overseas at anyone time.
The council took out an emergency mortgage from the federal government to the tune of £250 million in the course of the pandemic—and nonetheless owes most of it. The Artwork Newspaper reported that the council is paying round £14 million a yr on the business curiosity utilized to the mortgage. In consequence, it has requested the UK’s overseas, commonwealth, and improvement workplace (FCDO) to take some monetary strain off by decreasing the mortgage funds. The council has additionally requested for a rise in authorities strategic funding (cash given by one stage of presidency to a different) from 2026 onward, which totaled £163 million in 2024.
The British Council earns about 85 p.c of its turnover by educating and exams, partnerships, and tendered contracts. It additionally receives strategic funding from the FCDO (about 15 p.c of its earnings).
The chief govt of the council, Scott McDonald, advised the Guardian that he was contemplating slashing the group’s price range by £250 million, shedding a whole lot of staffers, and pulling the group’s presence in as much as 40 international locations. He stated he provided the council’s artwork assortment to the UK authorities in return for writing off the mortgage.
For its half, the federal government stated it “stays dedicated to recovering the mortgage as soon as [the council’s] funds permit.”
Round half of the 9,000 works within the assortment reportedly can’t be offered because of authorized restrictions. Nonetheless, the Instances wrote that McDonald advised a parliamentary choose committee that’s “exploring what we will promote of the 50 p.c that isn’t restricted.”
As for which works might probably be offered, a British Council spokesperson stated that no selections have been made. “A British Council that’s in retreat is a blow to the UK within the competitors for affect on the world stage,” the consultant stated. “We’re taking all steps essential to safe the long-term monetary sustainability of the British Council, together with a overview of our property.”
This council’s funds are being squeezed amid the UK authorities’s just lately announcement of the formation of a brand new Tender Energy Council, which ministers stated brings collectively “tender energy and overseas coverage specialists to champion a brand new, hard-nosed method to tender energy.”
