I try not to mention funding on this blog because there is little so dull as artists banging on about funding. Stan’s Cafe are privileged to be valued enough by society for society to invest in us enriching its culture. This delights us. So this said please indulge me a couple of paragraphs about funding because UK Sport has just announced its elite funding program looking forward to the Rio Olympics.

This week, along with every other regularly funded Arts Council England ‘client’, we learned our current agreement is being amended so we receive a 1% cut in funding next year and 2% the year after. Yesterday it was announced that UK Sport increasing its investment in Olympic Sports by 11%. Somehow this morning this isn’t being reported as a dream scenario for them – which it is, instead the focus is on those sports that have missed out on the general bonanza or been cut.

I haven’t got time to do the research but it would be interesting to learn more about where that 11% has come from. Has non-elite sport been hammered? Have they retained the Olympic premium on the National Lottery ticket sales and as it is no longer being used to build venues it can go to athletes? Does it come from Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in which case does Culture and Media take the hit?

Meanwhile, we’re intrigued that someone who does have time on their hands has made a Freedom of Information request to look at our Arts Council application for Tuning Out With Radio Z. What is that about? These are paranoid times.