The British Council is considering selling up to half of the 9000 works in its art collection in order to pay a debt of £197m. This is the remaining total from its £250m pandemic-era government loan. Without additional financial support, it is ‘in real danger of disappearing’ the institution’s CEO Scott McDonald told The Guardian. The council is also considering shutting its operations in 30 to 40 countries.
McDonald states that the British Council is committed to paying back the loan but insists that the government must help find a viable solution. ‘I would just like reasonable loan terms of something like 25 years and a lower interest rate’ he said. The Art Newspaper has estimated that the current commercial interest rate applied to the loan amounts to £14m annually.
The British Council promotes UK culture and education in 100 countries. It receives around £160m from the government annually, which represents 15 percent of its income, and makes the rest through commercial activities such as language classes and exams. Comparable institutions in other European countries receive more state subsidies. Germany supports the Goethe-Institut with around £900m annually, while France allocates £600m to the Alliance Française.
The British Council’s collection features works by notable British artists including Barbara Hepworth, Steve McQueen and David Hockney, and is valued at £200m. Around half of the works can’t be sold due to legal restrictions, but the Times reported that McDonald is ‘exploring what we can sell of the 50 percent that is not restricted’.
