Tessa Jowell has announced that further to the £410 million already given to the Olympics from cultural activities, £100m more will be siphoned off from the arts.
Apparently, she has plans to repay these funds in the 2013 arts budget. But why does the arts council state that in the meantime “we don’t want to hit smaller organisations over the larger ones, but because of the way our funding is structured, these cuts will directly hit smaller projects, individual artists and touring groups”? Surely the arts council should consider closing down the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies, English National Opera, the Royal Shakespeare and National Theatre companies. In 2013 the government in power could then decide whether the Olympics have been sufficiently worthwhile to reinstate these companies.
The logical way of funding future Olympics is obviously to institute an annual levy on all participating countries so that a substantial fund is readily available to any country chosen to host future Games. It is, of course, too late for such a scheme to salvage the damage being done to the British arts, cultural and entertainment world, but it would at least avoid any such heathen method being used by any other country having to pay for the Olympics.
Anthony Field
Cromwell Tower
London EC2Y
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