The chair of Arts Council England has warned that private investment secured by a London-based concert hall “must not be used as an argument against public funding for culture”, in response to public debate on the matter.

Sir Nicholas Serota defended the need for public arts and culture funding, after Wigmore Hall secured £10m in private donations in a year.

The central London venue announced last week that from 2026 it would no longer require public investment, having reached its target of raising £10m in private donations ahead of schedule.

Announcing the milestone, the hall said: “Providing long-term financial security the fund allows Wigmore Hall to remain ambitious and artistically bold while securing its independence.”

ACE’s chair has responded to ensuing debate about public funding for culture with an open letter, which has been signed by members of the funder’s national and area councils.

Serota congratulated the charity for raising £10m, but warned the hall’s “achievement at fundraising in a wealthy part of central London cannot and must not be used as an argument against public funding for culture, which remains essential.”

He said that over the past 30 years, arts organisations in England had “played an “irreplicable role in the talent pathways that can take artists to the world stage” using a funding model that is “built on a foundation of public investment, income earned at the box office or through commercial income streams, and money raised from companies, trusts and individuals”.

Serota said: “But that model is currently threatened by the pressures on local authority funding, the steady reduction in the real value of national investment, and rising costs. Remove public funding, and many of these organisations may not survive. The privileged few will be all we have left. 

“As members of Arts Council England’s national and area councils, it is our view that this isn’t good enough.”

Serota added that ACE understands that Wigmore Hall “based its decision” to no longer take public funding in part due to dissatisfaction with ACE’s Let’s Create strategy.

The hall currently receives £344,000 per year from ACE, but its director, John Gilhooly, told the BBC that the grantmaker’s current funding strategy was “too onerous”.

He said the venue did not “fully believe in everything” included in the strategy, which aims to widen access to culture, saying that you “can’t judge a community choir on the same criteria that you judge the world’s greatest artists”.

But Serota said: “It is our view that the principle that underpins this strategy – that everyone in this country, no matter what their background or where they come from, deserves access to the very best of creativity and culture in the places where they live and work – is both just and justifiable.”

He added that ACE was proud of the strategy, which was developed in consultation with the public, artists and the cultural sector. 

“Since its launch in 2021, we have seen the way in which it has enhanced opportunities for people and communities across England. We will continue to champion it, and the creative individuals and organisations that sustain culture in this country,” said Serota.