The Stage

Purnell announces £20 million arts boost

Published Friday 12 October 2007 at 15:10 by Alistair Smith

Government arts cash settlement Culture secretary James Purnell has handed the arts a £20 million real terms boost over the next three years.

Following the announcement that Treasury had given the Department of Culture, Media and Sport an inflationary increase at the spending review earlier this week, Purnell today announced that Arts Council England’s settlement would rise from £417 million this year to £467 million by 2010/11.

This represents an increase of 1.1% above the rate of inflation by 2011, which will account for an extra £20 million above inflation in total.

While some of the money will be focussed on delivering the Cultural Olympiad for 2012, the deal represents a remarkable turnaround for the arts, which had been fearful that the spending review could have led to as much as a 5% cut for cultural organisations.

The rise was welcomed by ACE. Chief executive Peter Hewitt said: “This is fantastic news - the government has acted on the case we have made for the arts. It’s a recognition of the work of our artists and arts organisations, whose energy and imagination have made our cultural life genuinely the envy of the world.

“The arts council priorities for excellence and innovation in the arts can now be made real in exciting and inspiring ways and we will work with the rest of the cultural sector to deliver a truly creative Cultural Olympiad.”