Arts organisations have called on Suffolk county council (SCC) to reconsider a proposed 100% cut to its culture budget.
As part of its plans to make £64.7m in savings over two years, the council announced on Wednesday that it will stop core funding of £500,000 to art and museum sector organisations from April 2025. A shared statement from local organisations affected by the decision said the cut would make an “extremely modest difference” to the council’s overall finances but have a “huge impact” on communities across the county.
DanceEast, Eastern Angles theatre company, First Light festival, the New Wolsey theatre, Primadonna festival, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk Artlink said the cut in arts investment represented a saving of “just 0.057% of the council’s 23-24 revenue budget”. Their statement, released on Thursday, continued: “The ‘cost’ to our county will be so much more significant. Collectively, our organisations support 24,493 children and young people and 76,516 vulnerable people through our community engagement work. We also provide permanent employment for 154 staff, and project or contract employment for a further 499 staff. Suffolk-wide, the culture sector plays an important part in providing employment for local people, with almost 6,985 jobs being supported by the sector.”
The New Wolsey’s chief executive and artistic director, Douglas Rintoul, said that it was already a difficult time for cultural organisations which are recovering from the impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. Rintoul added: “These proposed cuts could jeopardise the artistic and creative vibrancy of the area and threaten economic growth. The cultural and creative industries generate over £272m for the region and contribute immeasurably to the visitor economy, community wellbeing, sense of identity and enjoyment of life at its every stage.” Despite continued support from Arts Council England and Ipswich borough council, the proposed cuts “could force the theatre into making difficult decisions about the extent of its ongoing services” to the local community.
Both Ipswich’s New Wolsey and the Eastern Angles theatre company have received council funding for four decades. “I know local authority budgets are under extreme pressure from the drastic underfunding from the government, and council leaders across the UK are having to make tough decisions,” said Jake Smith, artistic director and CEO of Eastern Angles. “However, it is important to reframe investment in arts and culture as exactly that: an investment. It delivers not only an economic return but also contributes to the social health and wellbeing of our community.”
To assist with the transition, SCC said that £528,000 of Covid recovery money will be made available to arts organisations for the year 2024-25. “We are a well-run council and over the last five years, we have saved £66m by working smarter and leaner. But we now need to go even further,” said Richard Rout, SCC’s deputy leader and one of 53 Conservatives on the 75-strong council. “We are putting adult and children’s care at the heart of our plans,” added Rout. “We have spent months scrutinising all the council’s spending. There is competition for every pound across all our services, and I understand that each service means something to someone.”
“Smaller theatres are the heart of our communities,” tweeted Green councillor Robert Lindsay, expressing concern at the cut. Emma Buckmaster, Green party prospective parliamentary candidate for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, said it was “a shocking proposal … that will do lasting damage to the arts in Suffolk”.
Full details of the council’s financial plans – which include a 4.99% increase in council tax – will be presented to its scrutiny committee on 11 January.
