Arts funding cutbacks are revealed by group

The organisation has been given a 26.9 per cent cut in its budget over the next four years – a £457m real-terms decrease – as a result of the Goverment’s spending review.

Yesterday, it announced what that would mean for many of the region’s arts venues.

Those facing a reduction in funding include the likes of Stockton Arc, the Baltic, in Gateshead, Darlington Arts Centre, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, the National Glass Centre, in Sunderland, the Northern Stage Company, Tees Valley Arts and Tees Valley Dance.

Several councils have also had arts grants cut.

Arts Council chairwoman Liz Forgon said the group was having to make severe cuts.

Annabel Turpin, the chief executive of Stockton Arc, which is facing a year-on-year funding decrease of £17,699, said the cuts were regrettable, but could have been worse.

She said: “We all knew that cuts were coming and we have, over some months, prepared for them.

“We have been going through an organisational restructuring so we are robust and can prepare ourselves for what lies ahead.”

She said Arts Council funding made up about 20 per cent of the complex’s annual income.

Twenty per cent comes from council funding, with the rest from income generated by the theatre and supporters.

Referring to potential council cuts, Miss Turpin said: “It is really important when councils are looking to save money that they take into account the work that arts organisations do to knit communities together.

“They do not just deliver entertainment.

There is the economic impact that they have and the work we do with hardto- reach groups. We need to make sure that these wider arguments are heard.”

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council said a £9,009 cut for the town’s arts centre – which it is feared could be under threat – was less than it was anticipating.

She said: “We are grateful to the Arts Council for their continued support and their hard work in minimising the impact on us of their own budget cuts.”