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Publicly-funded arts organisations will face a 6.9% funding cut next year as part of the Arts Council England's attempts to meet the budget requirements outlined in the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review last week (20th October).
But it described this as a "transitional year", and warned that around 80% of the cuts were required to come in the first two years of the four year Spending Review period, with all organisations to be asked to re-apply for funding. "Some organisations will not receive funding in future, some may receive more, and some less," it said.
Arts Council England will be reducing its grant-in-aid budget from £449m to £349m by 2015, a real-terms cut of £457m over four years. This decision follows a meeting of National Council yesterday to discuss plans for implementing the 29.6% cut to its budget.
This translates as a 6.9% across-the-board cash cut for the majority of arts organisations in 2011/12 only. Among those literature organisations whose budgets will be cut, literature and reading charity Book Trust will see its budget slashed by £21,410, from £310,292 in 2010/11 to £288,882 in 2011/12.
Among the publishers in the firing line are Bloodaxe Press who face cuts of £6,866 to £92,638, Tindal Street Press, whose budget has been reduced by £3,621 to £48,852, and Arcadia Books, whose funding is down £3,140 to £42,374.
Residential creative writing organisation the Arvon Foundation will see its budget cut by £20,208, from £292,863 in 2010/11 to £272,656 in 2011/12. Poetry specialist Carcanet Press is among the independent publishers whose funding will be cut, losing £8,441, from £122,328 in 2010/11 to £113,888 in 2011/12.
Liz Forgan, chair of Arts Council England, said: "These are severe cuts, made worse by the fact that around 80% of them have to come in the first two years of the settlement. We are determined to lead the arts through this tough period, using all our knowledge, expertise, and brokering skills, and drawing on the resourcefulness and imagination around us."
Forgan added that Council had to "prioritise" in order to achieve the 6.9% cut to the portfolio, within a 14% cash cut to its overall 2011/12 budget. She said: "These measures are designed to ensure a strong and resilient future. The country needs its artists at a time like this and we are about building, as well as sustaining, our unparalleled arts and cultural sector."
Within the transitional first year of the cuts, from April 2011 to April 2012, Arts and Business will have its funding reduced by half, with no core funding for this department beyond 2012. Council's fund for strategic opportunities for artistic work, supporting work such as touring, will be reduced by 64% (£21m). The budget for Creativity, Culture and Education will be reduced by half following the closure of Creative Partnerships, also announced in the Spending Review.
The Arts Council's itself must reduce its operating costs by 50%, from £22m to £12m in 2015, though National Council expressed "serious concerns about the ability of the organisation to operate effectively with this level of cut", following a 15% reduction in operating costs this year.
Full details of the new system will be announced on 4th November, coinciding with the publication of the Arts Council's new 10-year strategic framework for the arts, "Achieving Great Art for Everyone". Individual funding decisions for 2012-2015 will be announced by the end of March 2011.