Their solution? To find a way of manipulating its existing arts event around the requirements of funders.
Fortunately, Lodestar, the theatre company behind the festival, managed to do this without compromising its integrity.
As well as a professional production of Romeo and Juliet in St George’s Hall’s Small Concert Room (a venue choice that won it Heritage Lottery funding), it incorporated a youth strand.
By asking the 150 disadvantaged young people taking part to explore the themes of gang life and crime contained within the play, Lodestar gained support from the Police Protection Fund. Further cash came from the Arts Council, the Eleanor Rathbone Foundation and the Foyle Foundation.
Of course, this format would not work for all cultural projects and there is certainly a case for the creation of great art simply for great art’s sake – with any social or economic benefits seen as the icing on the cake.
So where else is there to turn? Many Liverpool businesses and individuals already give generously to the arts – just look at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s successful members programme – but in a region like Merseyside everyone is chasing the same pot.
One fix might be getting audiences to pay upfront, through schemes such as web-based Kickstarter.
Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman and his musician wife Amanda Palmer successfully used this to finance their recent tour of music and story-reading gigs.
Donations ranged from $1, for which backers received a digital download of the event, to $500 for the full VIP experience. The couple needed $20,000, they made $133,341.
