‘An acutely difficult time’: companies respond to Arts Council funding decisions

Tyrone Huggins, Trevor Laird and Tonderai Munyevu in Eclipse’s Black Men Walking at the Royal Court, London, in 2018. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

Eclipse: ‘This is a really precarious moment’

Eclipse, a black-led touring company based in Leeds, is still digesting the news that its annual grant from Arts Council England will more than double to £563,474. “We’re relieved, and grateful for the support in the current climate,” said Lekan Lawal, Eclipse’s artistic director. “But we’re also very aware of the impact of the news [of the 2023-26 settlement] on a lot of friends and collaborators and the communities they serve. So it’s a bittersweet situation, and we’re still trying to work out what the ramifications are.”