Further Olympic funding will deprive the arts, warns ACE chief Hewitt

Published Thursday 15 March 2007 at 14:20 by Alistair Smith

Arts Council England chief executive Peter Hewitt has warned that the government’s decision to divert more Lottery funding towards the 2012 Olympics will deprive arts organisations across the country.

Hewitt spoke out following culture secretary Tessa Jowell’s announcement that the budget for the games has risen to £9.3 billion, with £675 million more being taken from the National Lottery - a key source of subsidy for the arts.

“We still believe that the 2012 Olympics presents a real opportunity for arts and culture in this country,” he said. “But we are deeply disappointed that more money is to be diverted away from the arts to pay for the Games. We will now have to look in detail at how this reduction in Lottery funding might be managed and what particular effects it will have.

“The impact is likely to be felt across the whole of England and disproportionately by smaller arts organisations, local projects and individual artists - the main recipients of our Lottery funds and precisely the sorts of people who may be asked to contribute to the cultural Olympics.”

He added that he wanted the sector to be compensated at the forthcoming spending round and was asking for an urgent meeting with the Treasury to discuss the situation.

For more on this week’s story see next week’s print edition of The Stage.