The Stage

‘Upturn in Lottery sales will mean extra £200m for arts’ - Ed Vaizey

Published Tuesday 14 February 2012 at 17:07 by Alistair Smith

Arts Council England is expected to have around £160 million of extra funding at its disposal over the next five years, thanks to increased National Lottery ticket sales, culture minister Ed Vaizey has claimed.

On the same day as ACE held its State of the Arts conference in Salford, Vaizey revealed new projections for Lottery income show ACE is expected to receive £1.25 billion from the Lottery between 2012/13 and 2016/17.

This represents a £160 million increase on projections from September 2010. An additional £40 million is also projected to go to the British Film Institute. The figures are estimates and could change if Lottery ticket sales worsen or improve.

Vaizey said: “In a time of economic uncertainty, the arts are more important than ever. The cultural value is immeasurable and we are in no doubt about the contributions that the arts make to our economy, our communities, our schools and our wellbeing.

“It is a sign of the government’s commitment that in a time of economic austerity, we have been able to limit the reduction in arts funding via the arts council to less than 5% in real terms. We reformed the National Lottery so that the arts, film, sports and heritage would all benefit. And rising ticket sales mean that an extra £200 million could be going to the arts over the next five years, which is great news for artists and audiences across the country.”