5% cuts to arts and museums are less than predicted
14 June 2013, 16:39
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed that cuts to Arts Council England, including arts and museums in the UK, will be around 5%.
Total cuts for the whole department, including the media and sport divisions, have been agreed at 8%, but the 5% cuts to the Arts Council are generally considered to be better than expected.
The chair of Arts Council England Peter Bazalgette described the 5% figure as a "massive result", though he warned that the coming years would still be "tough" for the arts.
The news comes in advance of George Osborne's spending review, due on June 26th.
In March of this year, the Treasury wrote to various government departments advising them to prepare for a cut of up 10% in their budgets for the year 2015-16, prompting many to believe that cuts to the DCMS would be much higher.
In a speech at the British Museum in April, Culture Secretary Maria Miller said that the arts must make a case for public funding based on their financial returns, rather than just artistic and cultural value.
