Arts Funding Information

Southwark Council proposes to reduce arts funding by 30%: have your say

This just arrived in my inbox, I thought it would be of interest to everybody especially given how comparatively generous Southwark is towards the arts:

Dear Colleagues,

Southwark Council have published their draft revenue budget for 2011/2012. In the next year the arts budget is taking an approx 30% cut.

We have created an online Survey that we would thank you for filling out, in order to collate a response to the Draft Budget.
Click here to take the survey, or navigate to: http://surveymonkey.com/s/RK63D62

In addition, we have included all of the information from Southwark Council at the bottom of this document, and we have picked out the Arts & Culture specific parts of the budget report, to save you time looking through it all, although it makes interesting reading!

Please do take this opportunity (possibly the last opportunity) to make your opinions & concerns known to Southwark Council.

Southwark Budget Cuts Timeframe.

20 Jan Draft revenue budget released, beginning of consultation period

25 Jan Cabinet meeting – draft revenue budget presented

31 Jan Overview and Scrutiny panel meeting 10am - 5.15pm

4 Feb Close of consultation period

8 Feb Cabinet to make recommendations

22 Feb Council Assembly to confirm final budget

Arts & Culture mentions in Draft Budget Report 2011-12

Pages 16-17.

Environment, community safety and culture services

Point 97. The overall vision for these services is to make Southwark’s neighbourhoods great places to live, that are clean, safe and vibrant and where activities and opportunities are accessible to all. The department’s approach to achieving the savings has been to focus on a core provision of quality services, efficiency savings, smarter procurement and tougher contract management; reducing optional services and using data and intelligence to target services to places or people where they will be more effective.

Point 98. The draft budget for environment, community safety and culture services in 2011/12 is £67.4m. The draft indicative budgets for 2012/13 are £65.1m and for 2013/14 is £64.9m.

Point 101. The approach to meeting savings targets within environment, community safety and culture services has been to protect frontline provision as much as possible. The focus will be to maintain quality core services which will require some service changes. As a result draft savings of £6.8m in 2011/12 will be achieved, with further indicative savings of £3.0m in 2012/13 and £2.2m in 2013/14.

Point 105. It is proposed to restructure and re-organise management and staffing across the services within culture, libraries, leisure and learning. It is also proposed to review funding arrangements across the arts grant programme and rationalise events. Sports participation for young people will be transferred to Children’s Services to ensure the best use of remaining funding for the Olympics and young people. A review of the library provisions will be initiated in light of the opening of the new Canada Water Library. The library service will be refocused towards core and new libraries to provide a more effective level of service. Management arrangements will also be streamlined. This will deliver some £2.8m of savings over three years from 2011/12.

Appendix D, page 15 of 'Appendices A - E Policy and Resources 2011-12 Draft Revenue Budget

Appendix D, Draft Revenue Budget, Culture, learning & leisure p15