Cuts Watch #81: more arts cuts

18 Jun 2010, by Richard Exell in Cuts Watch

Today the Arts Council revealed how it will cope with the £19 million cut in its funding announced last month by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.Taken together with a £4 million cut imposed in the 2009 Budget, the Arts Council has £23 million less from central government this year than it originally expected.

By drawing on £9 million of their ‘historic reserves’ they have been able to limit the cuts for ‘regularly funded organisations’ to 0.5 per cent; there are 800 organisations in this category who, on average will lose £2,000 each. Some of the best-known organisations in the arts will lose substantially more; one estimate of how much they could lose is:

• Royal Opera House – £142,185
• Southbank Centre – £104,022
• Royal National Theatre – £98,699
• English National Opera – £92,180
• Royal Shakespeare Company – £80,052
• Opera North – £49,577
• Birmingham Royal Ballet – £41,014
• English National Ballet – £34,479
• Welsh National Opera – £33,976
• Arts & Business – £160,000