WAC to fight £100k grant axe - Arts Council facing legal action from Weekend Arts College over funding "inaccuracies"
Published: 21 April 2011
by DAN CARRIER
THE Arts Council are facing legal action over their decision to scrap the entire grant given to the Weekend Arts College (WAC), the ground-breaking performing arts school in Belsize Park.
WAC, based in the Old Hampstead Town Hall in Haverstock Hill, learned earlier this month that a £100,000-a-year grant was being withdrawn. It has traditionally helped pay for tuition for young people.
WAC director Celia Greenwood said: “We have submitted a complaint to the Arts Council on the basis that the report they made on our bid for funds was full of inaccuracies.”
Meanwhile, former pupil Jesse Hackett has spoken out over the swingeing cuts to the projects funding. Jesse (pictured), who plays keyboards the band Gorillaz, has been joined by other alumni including rapper Miss Dynamite to form a fundraising committee to help save the service. Musicians are planning a gig in the autumn to raise the profile of a “Save WAC” campaign, and to raise much-needed funds.