Hello all
In case it's escaped your attention, tomorrow (Wednesday 20 October) is D-Day for government spending cuts. At 12:30pm, the Chancellor will begin presenting the Comprehensive Spending Review in the House of Commons, including how much will be lopped off the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) budget.
DCMS is one of the government's smallest departments, with an annual spend of £1.9 billion - that's compared with the likes of £155 billion for welfare, £50 billion for education, £37 billion for defence, £19 billion for business, and at the lower end of the spectrum, £10 billion for the Home Office, £9 billion for justice and £6.4 billion for transport.
Despite its relative size, DCMS is expected to be hard hit - and passing on much of its anticipated 25-30% cut to the Arts Council, which, with its £445 million per year, provides grants for 800 arts organisations, amongst them more than 200 theatre companies. We'll be reporting in News on DCMS's settlement as soon as we know it - with industry commentary - followed by the Arts Council's announcement of how their reduced funds will be divided, which is expected within the next week.
In the meantime, please take a moment today to sign the online petition to save the arts. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures (it's currently at just over 58,200 so get clicking!), it will trigger a debate on the matter in Parliament.
Kind regards,
Terri Paddock, Editorial Director
