North East arts funding set for further cuts

Jun 19 2010 The Journal

ARTS organisations across the North East will share the pain of a multi-million pound budget cut, with fears of deeper cuts to come.

Having had its Government grant cut by £19m, Arts Council England has decided organisations it funds on a regular basis will get 0.5% less than they had expected this year, totalling £1.8m.

There are 70 regularly funded organisations in the North East, ranging from The Sage Gateshead, which had been due to receive £3.8m in 2010-11, to Newcastle-based Flambard Press (£21,664).

The Arts Council said it had “sought to protect and develop art and the organisations that enable it to happen” as far as possible.

It has slashed larger sums from its two highest funded organisations not directly involved in producing art.

Creativity, Culture and Education, which is based in Newcastle and runs the Creative Partnerships scheme, is to lose £1.6m while Arts & Business suffers a £200,000 cut – a 4% cut in each case.

The Arts Council has also taken £19m from its reserves and further trimmed its operating costs by £400,000.

Alison Clark-Jenkins, regional director of Arts Council England, North East, said: “We felt it was especially important to look at the savings that would have the least impact on regularly funded organisations this year because we think the scenario will be different after the Budget next Tuesday. The indications from the Government are that there are no departments that can’t expect cuts.”

Several North East arts bosses praised the Arts Council for striving to protect arts organisations.

But Godfrey Worsdale, director of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, warned: “There is an impact. We are used to making difficult decisions and we’ve got to continue to do that.” Erica Whyman, chief executive of Northern Stage, said audiences wouldn’t notice cutbacks this year “but the battle to make sure the cuts aren’t worse the following year is very serious.”

Paul Collard, chief executive of Culture, Creativity & Education, which employs 25 in Newcastle, said the cut had been “painful” but had not been passed on to the schools and children it works with, though he was unsure about the future of the organisation. The Government is to scrap Find Your Talent, the scheme piloted in the North East by the Customs House, South Shields.