May 2010 Archives

It’s started. We all knew it was coming. Whichever government had won the election, the arts were going to be faced with pretty bracing cuts.

The only difference with the Tory/Lib Dem coalition is that the cuts have started now rather than in the autumn, when they almost certainly would have been just as big an issue under a Labour government.

Following Jeremy Hunt’s sweetener - his welcome speech to assembled arts bigwigs at the Roundhouse last week - we’re now hit with the bad news. Arts Council England has to find £19 million of in-year cuts to its 2010/11 budget.

We now have a new government and a new man in charge of the culture brief - Jeremy Hunt.

We’ll probably find out later today who will be given the arts minister brief, but it’s likely to be one of Ed Vaizey - the Tory arts spokesman, who worked with Hunt while in opposition - or Don Foster, who had similar responsibilities for the Liberal Democrats. Or they might share the brief in some way - the pair are good friends, so it could certainly work.

But what does it all mean for the arts?