After the cuts come the details. The Arts Council respond.
Less than a week after George Osborne announced massive funding cuts to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) as part of the coalition government's spending review, the Arts Council has announced its plans to implement the 29.6% cut to its budget.
Following a meeting of the National Council on 25th October a plan has been drawn up to reduce the Arts Council's grant-in-aid budget from £449 million to £349 million by 2015.
In an attempt to cushion the blow, the strategy is to phase in the cuts, with a 6.9% across-the-board cash cut for the majority of arts organisations in 2011/2012. By 2014/2015 there will be a 14.9% real-term cut to the money available for the regular funding or organisations. There will also be a 50% reduction to the Arts Council’s operating costs, from the current £22m to £12m (in real terms) in 2015 as well as significant cuts to the funding of Creativity, Culture and Education, Arts and Business, and the Arts Council’s development funds.
One of the most immediate to suffer here is Arts & Business, who facilitate relationships between, as the name suggests, businesses and the arts. They are to have their budget slashed by 50%.
The main worry is that DCMS has asked the Arts Council to cut its operating costs by 50% from £22 million to £12 million over the next four years. Given that, only 3.4% of this is spent on administration costs (the big coalition target) the National Council has "serious concerns about the ability of the organisation to operate effectively with this level of cut", particularly as it comes after a 15% reduction in operating costs for 2010.
Liz Forgan, Chair of Arts Council England said: “These measures are designed to ensure a strong and resilient future. The country needs its artists at a time like this and we are about building, as well as sustaining, our unparalleled arts and cultural sector.”
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