Hoipolloi statement on Arts Council funding decision

Hoipolloi has been invited to join Arts Council England’s new national portfolio of organisations with support for our programme of work through to 2015.

We understand that the Arts Council have had to make some very difficult decisions over the past few months. It is not clear today what impact the funding cuts will have on the environment we work within.

We will now concentrate on how best to move forward from here, assessing our plans in the light of this challenging new climate.

Up until this point, Hoipolloi has received a combination of RFO and lottery funding. Our new national portfolio settlement offers the company a much more secure position to build on the successes of the past 17 years and find exciting ways to increase our engagement with audiences in the future.

Over the next few years, Hoipolloi will build on the success of our partnership with Hugh Hughes, work that has a proven capacity to reach and inspire people. We will also continue and improve our use of digital media as a creative tool, looking at ways of furthering the links between our live and digital work.

Made In England

Hoipolloi will be celebrating St. George's Day with the BBC and Arts Council England. If you're on a train coming into London on Thursday, watch out! You might meet one of the colourful, larger-than-life characters Hoipolloi will be creating to let loose on unsuspecting commuters...

Made In England is an artistic adventure, assembled by the BBC and Arts Council England, taking place all over the country on Thursday 23rd April. The project aims to explore England through its people and its art. It’s a contemporary take on our national identity, which will show how England continues to inspire creativity.

Next week, Hoipolloi will be developing ideas for a series of improvised performances taking place on trains and railway platforms between Milton Keynes and St. Pancras. We’re just one of many artists and groups of theatre-makers taking part. The project also encompasses poetry, visual art and music.

Highlights will be broadcast all day on BBC television, radio and websites. And Hoipolloi will be joining in a rendition of a “new national anthem”, developed as part of the project and performed at St. Pancras station to kick start the event!

There’s loads more information here. Don’t forget to tune in or come and say hello in person!