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The English National Opera (ENO) has called the Arts Council England (ACE)\u2019s plan to cut its funding unless it considers relocating to Manchester as \u201cabsurd\u201d and \u201cinsane\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ENO\u2019s annual funding of \u00a312.8m ($14.6m\/\u20ac14.6m) was cut by ACE on Friday<\/a> and was instead replaced with \u00a317m over three years, if the Opera considered relocating, potentially to Manchester.<\/p>\n Now, The Stage<\/a> has reported that ENO chief executive Stuart Murphy has secured talks with the UK\u2019s Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan and ACE.<\/p>\n Other opera companies including Glyndebourne, Welsh National Opera, the Royal Opera House and the ENO held an emergency meeting yesterday (Wednesday).<\/p>\n According to further reports<\/a>, ENO chief executive Stuart Murphy said: \u201cI think we\u2019re going to be saying to the secretary of state tomorrow and to the Arts Council, \u2018We can definitely do levelling up, but that can only happen with a big London base\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy also said that the Art Council\u2019s plan was \u201cabsurd\u201d and \u201cinsane\u201d. ENO is now campaigning for the decision to be reversed.<\/p>\n A petition set up by opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel Jones CBE to reinstate ENO\u2019s Arts Council funding has reached more than 22,000 signatures at the time of writing.<\/p>\n English National Opera bosses said that they looked into the relocation, but found there were too many obstacles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spoke to people that the Arts Council hadn\u2019t bothered to speak to in Manchester, from across the opera world, and our staff \u2013 and it\u2019s just not doable,\u201d Murphy told BBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are skills that can\u2019t just be learned in the three years we\u2019ve been given. These are people who\u2019ve been in the company for 40 years. It takes a long time to train to be an opera singer. We can\u2019t just close down in one area and start in another.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n