Spending Review paints a bleak picture for West Midlands arts

So, the phony war is over. Politicians have spat babble and bile across the dispatch box, now it’s time for the bullets and bloodshed.

Economic theory is replaced by money-pinching facts.

And here are those facts, as far as the arts organisations of the Midlands are concerned.

The Arts Council faces a funding cut of 29.6 per cent and has been told to limit cuts to its own regularly funded organisations, which include orchestras and theatres across England, to 15 per cent.

Alan Davey, chief executive of Arts Council England, said: “This cut will inevitably have a significant impact on the cultural life of the country.”

He said implementing the cuts was a “tough task” but added: “We are determined to manage the cuts in the best possible way for the benefit of the whole arts and cultural sector.”

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “To deal with an unprecedented financial deficit we have been forced to make some incredibly difficult decisions. But, in the current economic climate, this is a good settlement for DCMS’s sectors”

Nineteen quangos will also be abolished or reformed. However, free entry to museums and galleries will remain.

Creative organisations in the region have been bracing themselves for this kind of news for some time

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