Arts Development UK have published findings from their annual survey on local authority spending cuts for the arts. As expected, the survey suggests significant changes to local spending for the arts across England and Wales

On Wednesday, Mayor of London Boris Johnson attended Access All Areas, a seminar on how young people can get into music.

In an effort to support the voluntary sector, Local Government and Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, announced a new ‘fair deal’ for voluntary and community groups. 

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has announced a review of statutory duties that central government currently places on local authorities. 

Ed Vaizey MP delivered his speech on ‘The Creative Ecology’ to the audience at the State of the Arts conference on Thursday, 10 February. 

In their new list of strategic priorities London Councils, an umbrella body for the Local Authorities in the council, have decided to axe the funding they provide for the arts in the capital.

The Government has introduced its Localism Bill, which had its first reading in the House of Commons on 13 December.

On Wednesday, Somerset County Council voted to cut its £159,000 funding pot for arts organisations in the area following the Government’s recent spending review.

The NCA has this week submitted its response to the Mayor’s consultation: ‘Cultural Metropolis – The Mayor’s Cultural Strategy 2012 and Beyond’.  

The City of London has published its Cultural Strategy looking ahead to 2014. A key investor in the arts in London, the City spends over £80million every year on its cultural and leisure services. 

The NCA was in attendance at Toynbee Hall as Munira Mirza unveiled the Mayoral Cultural Strategy for 2012 and beyond. Topics addressed during the presentation included education, environmental sustainability and the improvement of arts provision for London’s outer boroughs.

On 24 May, the Coalition Government announced a £6.2 billion package of cuts to Government spending for the current financial year as a first step towards reducing the UK’s £156 billon budget deficit. The promise from the Coalition was that the savings would be taken out of budgets without affecting the quality of key frontline services.

The Departments for Children, Schools and Families and Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have published good practice guidance, aimed at local authorities, on providing positive activities for young people, particularly on a Friday and Saturday night. The guidance references some good case studies showcasing the work of the cultural sector and aims to encourage local authorities to partner with organisations who could help to deliver a diverse range of arts, culture and sports activities.

The Association of British Orchestras (ABO) has published A Platform for Success: A Five Year Vision for Orchestras. The ABO’s vision sets out the following aspirations:

Maintain our programme of great performances at home and abroad, challenging audiences with a wide repertoire and diverse approach. Place orchestras within the national celebrations towards the London 2012 Olympic Games and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Nurture home grown talent and attract the world’s best composers, performers and conductors to the UK. All these artists have at their disposal a hugely talented and highly skilled pool of musicians, with a rich orchestral heritage. Ensure every orchestra in the ABO commits to an environmental ‘touring charter’ by 2015.

The London Local Authorities and Transport for London (No. 2) Bill is set to have its Third Reading in the House of Lords, although an exact date has not yet been scheduled. One specific clause of the Bill (number 16) is felt to present potential problems for the arts sector, and DCMS, via the Department for Transport (DfT) will be objecting to the clause. Clause 16 states the intention to recover from the organisers of large scale public events (such as football matches or concerts) the cost of any additional traffic management and street cleaning needed as a result of those events. Clause 16(1) states that: “This section applies in respect of any sporting event or any entertainment that, in either case, is put on for commercial gain in Greater London (including an event that is one of a number of similar events put on at the same location at different times).” 

The Legislation Committee No. 4 of the National Assembly for Wales has published its report on the proposed National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Culture and other fields) Order 2009. The order will allow the Assembly to make new laws for Wales (known as Assembly Measures) specifically in relation to the promotion and delivery of cultural services by local authorities across Wales.

The Executive Summary of the Arts Index is available to everyone. The full copy of the Arts Index report is only available to members of the NCA. Click here for details on how to join.

 

The production of the Arts Index would not have been possible without the help and support of the following organisations, to whom we are enormously grateful:

Audiences UK, Audiences London, Americans for the Arts, Arts and Business, Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council Northern Ireland and The Department for Culture, Media & Sport.

Thanks too to Don Foster MP for sponsoring the launch at the House of Commons, and to Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, Shadow Culture Minister Dan Jarvis, John Nickson and Ivan Cutting for speaking.