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Northern Rock Foundation, the largest independent provider of charitable grants for the North East and Cumbria and a valued source of funding for the region’s arts and community organisations, has announced it is to be wound down. The decision follows the withdrawal of funding by Virgin Money which took over the nationalised Northern Rock bank in 2012.
Set up with a mission to support the vulnerable and disadvantaged and to share learning and activites, the foundation has supported hundreds of charitable and community organisations with over £200m in grant aid.
A statement issued by Northern Rock Foundation said: ‘The foundation hoped to agree with Virgin Money a viable long-term solution to secure the foundation’s future. Following wide-ranging discussions it is now confirmed that Virgin Money cannot commit funding to ensure this, and will not continue the previous funding agreement between us… The foundation’s closure is now inevitable, as it receives no income from any other source.’
Created by the Northern Rock bank in 1998 and originally funded with 5% of the plc’s annual profits, Northern Rock Foundation still managed to survive when the bank was taken into public ownership in 2008. When Virgin Money took over the bank in January 2012 they committed to continuing a 2011 funding agreement of 1% of pre-tax profits up until 2013, with a commitment to discuss how the foundation and Virgin Money could continue working together following this date.
Funder of the arts
The foundation has been an important funder of the arts in North East and Cumbria, supporting a range of successful projects by organisations including Helix Arts, Allanheads Contemporary Arts, Aune Head Arts, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Eden Arts, Lakeland Arts Trust, Littoral, National Glass Centre, Northern Film & Media, Rednile Projects, Tees Valley Arts, Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, and 36 Lime Street Studios Ltd.
Toby Lowe, chief executive of Helix Arts, described the impact Northern Rock Foundation has had on his organisation and the region: “The support of Northern Rock Foundation has contributed massively to Helix Arts’ success in promoting equality of opportunity to make art. Previously, they have funded projects which have enabled us to work with some of the most disadvantaged young people in the region, and now they provide important core funding which helps to underpin all of our work, and they will continue to do so for at least two more years.
“Their loss will be keenly felt, particularly as public sector resources continue to be cut in the North East. It is to NRF’s credit, however, that they have managed their exit from new grantmaking in a gradual and considered way, which has enabled the organisations they support to plan for the future.”
In 2005, a-n received a £13,000 grant from the foundation to fund a study for a new event designed to raise the visibility of artists. a-n Director Susan Jones said: “Northern Rock’s grant to a-n in 2005 created evidence and insight about artists’ role in society and in particular to the public’s interest in artists themselves. Our interviewers found terrific support for artists from people on the streets of Liverpool and elsewhere.
“These findings have been revisited and are informing work we are doing now to demonstrate how direct funding to artists is bringing new people into the arts through participation in community and social settings.”
Also on a-n.co.uk
The Art of Living Dangerously – a Provocation commissioned by Exchange, a group of performing arts practitioners and organisations based in Tyneside, from Mission Models Money (MMM) and the new economics foundation (nef) that urges all those working with arts and culture to rethink their contribution to a vision of sustainable development that benefits the whole of society.
Why art works – The Value of the arts in Lancashire and Cumbria – Summary of an evaluation study that was commissioned by North by NorthWest, a consortium of twelve publicly funded visual arts organisations who have come together to support, promote and develop the contemporary visual arts in Lancashire and Cumbria.
