Officials warn of local authority arts funding blow on horizon
Local authority officials are warning that Arts Council England’s proposed raft of cuts threatens to have a “damaging knock-on effect” nationwide when councils come to make their own funding allocations.
The National Association of Local Government Arts Officers has joined the numerous industry bodies who have written to outgoing ACE chief executive Peter Hewitt demanding a moratorium on the current proposals to allow for further discussion.
NALGAO chair Lorna Brown complained there seemed to have been “so little proper dialogue” between the arts councils and local authorities to ascertain what the potential impact of the ACE cuts would be. She warned that following an extremely poor government funding settlement for local authorities, many councils were already looking to cut their arts spending. ACE’s actions, she fears, could lead to even more suffering for arts bodies across England.
She added: “In many regions, local authorities invest significantly more than the arts council in local arts facilities and activities. But with the lowest financial settlement for local government in many years, the non-statutory status of the arts puts many arts budgets at risk. It may be crude, but local councillors often assess the additional funding [ie. ACE funding] local government arts spending attracts as one of the overriding factors in sustaining hard-won council arts budgets. Loss of arts council funds will, I am quite sure, see further reductions in local council arts spending. The consequent social impact will be significant, as key organisations and local funding are lost.”
An estimated £120 million is invested in arts organisations across England and Wales by local authorities every year, providing one of the UK’s largest culture funding sources.
ACE is due to announce its final decisions on which organisations it is to fund for the next three years, and at what levels, on February 1.
Also from The Stage
- Venues face political pressure from funders, says Behzti team
- Belfast theatre companies hit hard by swinging cuts in core funding
- Councils swing axe over arts funding
- Arts funding fears as local authorities receive worst settlement in a decade
- BAC funding cuts will prove 'disastrous' for the arts, warn industry heavyweights
- Council funding 'murdering Bognor Regis entertainment'
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