Cuts to the arts

29 March 2011 is the day that arts organisations which receive regular funding in England will learn their fate, as Arts Council England implements the 29.6% cut announced to them by the Coalition government in October 2010.

There are currently around 850 Regularly Funded Organisations (RFOs) in the UK, ranging from the Serpentine Gallery in London to Faceless, a street performance and community arts company in Wakefield. Regardless of scale, these organisations have been selected for regular funding on the basis of the quality of their work, the people they are reaching, and various other key criteria.

The Arts Council followed the October announcement by cutting existing RFOs by 6.9% for 2011/12, aiming to 'provide a degree of stability and to allow the change to be managed in the most effective way'.

In a normal funding round, RFOs reapply every three years while new organisations apply alongside them. It is always a high-pressure process: rewarding and bringing on exciting new companies, increasing funding where it is warranted, while making difficult calls about where to cut. In 2008, the process involved roughly the same pot of money redistributed differently. The 29.6% cut means the 2011 process requires deciding where to make significant reductions that are likely to see around 25% of RFOs disappear — while simultaneously bringing new companies into the portfolio.

About 1,400 applications were submitted by the January 2011 deadline: 850 from existing RFOs and roughly 550 from prospective ones. The competition is immense. The Arts Council has until 29 March to make its decisions, with announcements expected on 30 March.

Many organisations that face heavy cuts will not survive.