Suburbs miss out in Arts Council carve-up

London's outer boroughs are not getting their fair share of funding from the Arts Council, its executive director for the capital admitted today.

Moira Sinclair spoke to the Standard as detailed figures showing the winners and losers in the annual grants carve-up were released to Parliament.

They show money is increasingly heading east to the heartland of the Young British Artists. One major winner in recent years has been Shoreditch and Hackney, where artists including Tracey Emin and Jake and Dinos Chapman live or work. The constituency received £4.7 million.

For the first time, handouts have been collated by parliamentary constituency, revealing that former Culture Secretary Lord Smith's old seat of Islington South and Finsbury is the biggest winner.

Almost £13.5million went to his constituents and their galleries, museums and film organisations. In second place was the Cities of London and Westminster, with £10.2 million. Vauxhall took £7.8million, Holborn and St Pancras £5.9million and Bethnal Green and Bow £5.4 million.

Outside the central area, grants drop rapidly. Lewisham West took just £26,394, while Edmonton, Brent North, Tottenham, Barking, Chingford and Wood Green and Dulwich and West Norwood all came in below £50,000.

Ms Sinclair said the council aimed to support "excellent art to the widest range of people" but she went on: "We recognise that historically there is underinvestment in outer boroughs of London and we are working hard with artists, organisations and local authorities to address this.

"These figures, from last year, reflect this. From April 2008 we are making new investments in many outer boroughs through our regularly funded organisations, including the Croydon Clocktower, Broadway Barking and the Albany and our capital investment in the Bernie Grant Centre and Stephen Lawrence Centre."

Organisations being helped also included the Greenwich and Docklands Festival and Kinetica, which target people with no access to mainstream arts. Other winners such as the Roundhouse, Young Vic Theatre, Whitechapel Gallery, Barbican, and Rich Mix all ran programmes designed to reach "far across the capital".

Between now and 2011 Arts Council England (London) plans to spend £536million on 284 organisations.

Brian Paddick, the Lib-Dem mayoral candidate, said he wanted to ensure grants were fairly allocated to all areas, not just the fashionable ones.

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Islington South and Finsbury £13,465,970
Cities of London and Westminster £10,207,345
Vauxhall £7,785,376
Holborn and St Pancras £5,880,930
Bethnal Green and Bow £5,395,079
Hackney South and Shoreditch £4,693,355
Kensington & Chelsea £3,054,498
Brentford & Isleworth £2,732,184
Hammersmith & Fulham £2,153,913
Hampstead and Highgate £1,997,238
Islington North £1,930,883
Battersea £1,395,163
Ealing, Acton & Shepherd's Bush £1,124,643
West Ham £1,110,753
Regent's Park and Kensington North £1,057,645
Lewisham Deptford £937,477
Brent East £859,841
Tooting £639,129
Wimbledon £565,000
Greenwich and Woolwich £493,935
Richmond Park £361,828
Finchley and Golders Green £354,899
Hornchurch £343,121
Hornsey and Wood Green £217,480
Croydon Central £215,111
Streatham £169,716
Brent South £122,825
Hackney North and Stoke Newington £120,270
Harrow East £118,271
Walthamstow £104,099
Erith & Thamesmead £100,000
Hendon £65,946
Harrow West £51,796
Dulwich and West Norwood £47,430
Chingford and Wood Green £40,000
Barking £40,000
Tottenham £39,767
Brent North £31,050
Edmonton £30,000
Lewisham West £26,394