At its meeting on 23 February, the Committee for British Academy Sponsored Institutes and Societies (BASIS) confirmed the decision to wind down the annual grant to the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) from a total of £306,000 in the current 2010-11 financial year reducing progressively to no funding by 2015-16.
The Academy says:
This decision reflects 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.
The Academy recognises the challenge that adapting to a new funding base will bring, and is aware of the value that a strong CBA brings to the archaeology and cultural heritage sector. The Council’s outreach and advocacy work in the UK does much to raise and underpin interest in archaeology and the humanities in general.
There have been careful discussions about the timing and phasing of this reduction, to enable the CBA to take forward its new strategic plan and move to a membership funding model. The Academy has made exceptional one-off restructuring awards over the last two years to help the CBA build development campaigns and a more efficient operating infrastructure, and expects to make a further such contribution during 2011-12.
The CBA is currently preparing a challenging new action plan to ensure that its most important priorities are taken forward despite this withdrawal of funding.
For the CBA plan see : LINK
British Academy News: LINK
