The Stage

ACE told to plan for funding cuts in CSR scenario

Published Tuesday 13 February 2007 at 13:55 by Nuala Calvi

Government officials have told Arts Council England to consider the effects of significant cash cuts for the arts in the next spending round.

ACE chief executive Peter Hewitt revealed the funding body has been asked to look at the implications of either a 5% cut every year until 2011, standstill funding, or an annual increase in line with inflation.

His comments, made at the recent launch of ACE’s new arts policies to members of the industry, have led to fears that the Treasury is preparing the sector for a serious blow in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.

Hewitt assured industry leaders that he had made “vividly clear” the implications of the first two scenarios in particular and the “senselessness of undoing all that has been gained” by increased subsidy.

“The arts council will be unstinting in continuing to make the most powerful case possible in future months, urging government to recognise the arts’ achievements and, at the very least, the paramount need to inflation-proof previous investment,” he said.

“This is not an unreasonable request. We should remind government that inflation for the arts council’s budget will require an increase of no more than £12 million a year in each of the three years in question, and the cost of the arts council through taxation to each household in England is a mere 39p a week. And if ever there was a time to hold the line on Exchequer funding it’s now, in these lottery-reducing years.”

Equity’s parliamentary affairs officer, Matt Payton, said the scenarios indicated that the industry needed to adjust its expectations in the CSR.

He added: “These are the only three scenarios that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have asked the arts council to present. It’s telling the most positive of these is an RPI [inflationary] increase - that tells you something about where it’s likely to lie.

“A 5% cut every year would be pretty devastating, not just for the smaller funded producers but large institutions and national companies. Everyone would be hit quite hard.”

However, an ACE spokesman said a 5% cut would not hit all clients across the board, but could result in some companies seeing an increase in subsidy while others are cut completely. He also stressed that the three scenarios were not necessarily an indication of the likely CSR outcome.

Louise de Winter, director of the National Campaign for the Arts, said the sector had to accept the reality that several government departments had already been told they would be experiencing cuts in the spending round.

“We have to accept the reality out there,” she said. “But I don’t think we should shy away from making the case for funding over and above inflation if we can demonstrate there is a clear need for it.

“I’m sure there’s an element of the Treasury wanting to get people thinking about the worst case scenarios so when something slightly better comes along people are grateful.”