Arts Council Axes Funds to 200 Organisations???

This Wednesday (30 March 2011) is the official day of reckoning, when Arts Council England (ACE) will announce where the axe will fall for the 850 organisations in its portfolio. And the news may be much worse than feared. According to yesterday’s Sunday Times, about 200 organisations will lose their funding – double the 100 predicted in November, when ACE laid out its new framework following the government’s slashing of its budget by 29.6%.

The ten biggest performing arts organisations – including the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company – will keep most if not all of their funding, says the Sunday Times. It’s the “second tier” companies that stand to lose the most; if not struck off, they’re likely to face drastically reduced or frozen budgets at best. At the same time as the cull of 200 previously funded organisations, about 100 companies will receive some level of regular funding for the first time.

Decisions were made an all-day meeting of ACE’s board on Friday. All arts organisations will be informed of their status on Wednesday morning ahead of a 10am press conference at ACE’s London offices – from which Whatsonstage.com will be live tweeting and reporting so that you can follow all of the action as it happens. Companies that lose their funding won’t do so until April 2012, so they’ll have one year to find an alternative source of income.