Arts Council’s budget cut by 30% – Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

British artists Mark Wallinger, left, David Shrigley and Jeremy Deller, right, pose for the media as they launch a campaign to lobby against the Governments proposed 25 per cent cuts in arts funding, in London Friday, Sept. 10

Artists launched a campaign against proposed arts cuts in September

Cuts in funding to national museums will be limited to 15% over four years, Chancellor George Osborne has announced as part of his Spending Review.

He said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) budget would be reduced to £1.1bn by 2014/15.

Administrative costs would be cut by 41%, although free entry to museums and galleries are set to remain.

Mr Osborne also confirmed that the BBC’s licence fee will be frozen for the next six years.

The Corporation will also take on responsibility for funding the World Service, the Welsh language channel, S4C, and the roll-out of broadband to rural areas.

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Unveiling his Spending Review in the Commons, Mr Osborne said that 19 quangos – including the UK Film Council – would be abolished or reformed.

“All of this is being done so we can limit four year reductions to 15% in core programmes like our national museums, the frontline funding provided to our arts and Sport England’s Whole Sport plans,” the Chancellor said.

“We will complete the new world-class building extensions for the Tate Gallery and British Museum in London.”

He added: “I can also announce today that in order that our nation’s culture and heritage remains available to all, we will continue to fund free entry to museums and galleries.”

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According to the BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz, the 15% cut in core programmes is a better than expected outcome for the Museum sector, but the Arts Council in England is unlikely to get off so lightly.

A significant amount of arts funding in the UK – around £900m – comes via the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The DCMS directly funds some of the bigger museums and galleries – such as Tate and The British Museum – with other money distributed by organisations such as Arts Council England.

The Arts Council will play a key role in implementing the funding cuts. It gives regular funding to 850 arts organisations worth a total of £350m.

‘Catastrophic’

The Arts Council has previously said that a 30% cut to its budget – if passed on equally – would “mean the loss of many arts organisations – large and small”.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the devolved governments decide how much is spent on the arts.

In July, the government asked all major arts funding bodies to show how they would manage cuts of 25% or 30%.

Artsist such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, David Hockney, Anthony Gormley and Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger joined a campaign against the proposed funding reductions.

Writing in the The Guardian earlier this month, Sir Nicholas Serota, the director of the Tate, argued that 25-30% cuts would mean “the greatest crisis in the arts and heritage since government funding began in 1940”.

Some cuts had already been announced. The UK Film Council is being axed along with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

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