HeartUnions: Stop the cuts at Nottingham Council

When and where: Meet 12.30 midday at Nottingham Playhouse (Sky Mirror) to march to Nottingham Council House for 13.00pm
What: Equity photocall and march to oppose Nottingham Council's culture budget cuts. joining the Save Our Services rally at 13.00pm outside the Council's budget cuts meeting at Nottingham Council House
Bring: your banners, placards, Equity flags & t shirts

Nottingham City Council has faced cuts of £1 billion from central government, finally forcing it into bankruptcy. The budget cuts proposed by the Council to address this are putting the future of places like Nottingham Playhouse at risk. This will hit Equity members' jobs and livelihoods. We must oppose these measures.

Meeting at the Playhouse Sky Mirror from 12 midday we will start with a photo opportunity for the press and for Equity's social media mavens. (Banners, Flags & Placards Oh My!) Together we will take the walk down Maid Marian Way and gather at Loxley House, (near the train station), where we will join the Save Our Services rally against the cuts, organised by Nottingham Trades Council and UNISON. More photos, flags and a megaphone!

WHY?
The consultation survey carried out in January to cut funding is being reviewed in a meeting of the Council's Executive Board at Loxley House on Tuesday 13 January. We should be all done and dusted, our point made by 1.30!

CONTEXT...
Equity's East Midlands Branch celebrates it's first anniversary in February. This has been our first opportunity in the East Midlands to take action. In this instance it is to oppose Nottingham City Council's proposed withdrawal of funding from arts organisations like the Nottingham Playhouse. The Playhouse provides regular work for Equity members, and serves as a major hub for community programs, arts education, and local talent development; the £60,502 cuts would be hugely detrimental to the cultural fabric of Nottingham.

In the words of our President at Equity, Lynda Rooke - "Proposing to cut just over £60,000 from the theatre until at least 2028 will seriously affect the provision of youth services and as a consequence severely limit the engagement of local young people in theatre and especially those from disadvantaged and marginalised communities. It will limit those youngsters from potentially considering a career in the performing arts, because, “you can’t be what you can’t see”. "

Further she explains - "It is not only the Playhouse’s contribution to the city in terms of health and well being that is threatened by these decisions, I am also concerned over the threat to jobs and future employment, as the Playhouse struggles to survive as a producing, creative hub. "