Cuts to CBA funding

[kevin wooldridge]

The following message has been posted by Mike Heyworth of the CBA via the Britarch message service:


'2 March 2011 - http://www.britarch.ac.uk/news/110302-cbafunding

CBA grant funding

The CBA received confirmation yesterday that our grant funding from the
British Academy is to be phased out over the coming five years.

This funding stream has been pivotal to the work of the CBA across the
UK for over fifty years and in the current financial year the grant
totalled UKP 306k - some 25% of the CBA's income. The British Academy
has now told the CBA that this grant will be removed by 2015-16 with a
significant year on year decline starting in 2011-12: see the British
Academy's statement <http://www.britac.ac.uk/news/news.cfm/newsid/464>.

CBA President, Dr Kate Pretty CBE, said

"We deeply regret the British Academy decision to cut funding to the
CBA, particularly as this decision was not forced by reductions in its
own grant from Government, but was a strategic choice by the Academy in
spite of their praise for the continuing high standard of our work."

"We will continue to develop our relationship with the British Academy
as the CBA has much to offer, especially in maximising the impact of the
academic research which the British Academy supports for the humanities
and social sciences."

CBA trustees met to consider the financial position of the charity in
January. The decision was taken to make some early adjustments to the
broad programme of work which the CBA had planned for the coming years,
and to focus more effort in the short-term on developing a sustainable
financial platform with an expanded membership of the CBA and its Young
Archaeologists' Club. The CBA is grateful for the extra financial
support from the British Academy for the restructuring programme which
will allow us to maximise the efficiency of our back office systems and
provide a wider range of payment options to members in the coming
months. We are also working with external consultants to improve the
communication of our membership offer and the wide-ranging work that we
will continue to undertake in the coming years.

The CBA's new five-year strategy for Making Archaeology Matter
<http://www.britarch.ac.uk/cba/objectives> remains highly relevant and
the trustees of the CBA maintain a strong belief in the value of and
need for the CBA's work. A challenging new action plan is now being
prepared to ensure that the CBA's most important priorities are taken
forward, despite the withdrawal of funding announced by the British
Academy. CBA trustees regret that restructuring and a reduction in the
CBA's staffing is now needed and a statement giving further details will
be issued in due course.

Please show your support for the Council for British Archaeology today'.

[lacrimosa]

"this decision was not forced by reductions in its
own grant from Government, but was a strategic choice by the Academy in
spite of their praise for the continuing high standard of our work."

government cuts/austerity measures i could just about get my head around (not saying i like it, just that i sort of get it) but this?
just hope it's not setting a scary precedent...

[kevin wooldridge]

The British Academy statement says that the cuts 'reflect the strategic objective of the Academy, incorporated in its four-year delivery plan, agreed with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, to concentrate a greater proportion of its funding from the BASIS programme on its UK-operated overseas research institutes outside Europe with broadly-based disciplinary interests'.

That in itself is a worthy cause and I would be disturbed if the Academy were to reduce overseas funding as much as I am that funding for the CBA is to go. I think the CBA should receive some kind of state funding, perhaps directly through the National Lottery, that reflects its key role in UK heritage affairs. It seems inconceivable that the Councils 6000 individual and 600 corporate members will be able to make up the ?320,000 difference in funding.....

[kevin wooldridge]

I have proposed a motion asking for DCMS to support continued funding of the CBA on the Digital Democracy website. If you fel inclined to support the motion or add comment please use the link below.

http://www.digitaldemocracy.org.uk/debat...hp?id=3830

[benmoore]

Once I've worked out how to, I will do, Kevin.

[Gaj]

Apparently we're not allowed to call them 'cuts' any more - a recent edict issued from some character at No. 10 stated that they should be called 'savings'.
Spin Spin Spin the Wheel of Justice.....

[Unitof1]

Why dont the British academy save the money now, why wait until 2016?

Seems to me this is a load of twaddle which is forty years out of date:

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/cba/objectives

which does not need funding

great Britain has been producing over 2000 archaeology graduates a year for at least the last twenty years ? we don?t need to enthuse volunteers, we need to make a living out of them.

[GPStone]

That might be a load of corperate twaddle designed to appeal to the 'right' people (and probably missing the mark by a country mile), but it doesn't reduce the value of the CBA to archaeology and society and it certainly doesn't reduce the potential value to the discipline in the future.

[lacrimosa]

W

great Britain has been producing over 2000 archaeology graduates a year for at least the last twenty years ? we don?t need to enthuse volunteers, .

of course... coz none of those mature graduates was previously a volunteer who was so enthused as to pursue it as a career, none of those younger graduates were enthused by parents/friends who'd had brilliant volunteering experience in their youths. we stop 'enthusing volunteers' and people might stop caring ...

[BAJR]

Indeed, this is an interesting position. BAJR has been a firm supporter of CBA and its objectives, even if sometimes they seem to be out of date and a bit out of touch and a tad defensive.

Probably... it could be good for them to have a shake up.

we stop 'enthusing volunteers' and people might stop caring ...

the 'Festival of Archaeology' is a case in point..... but the question is... would it continue without the CBA's input?

ps... ?1.224 million per year... oh the things BAJR could do with that