Arts Council England says 'plan for 10% cuts next year'

On The Guardian's Theatre blog, Lyn Gardner has posted a letter from Arts Council England Chief Executive, Alan Davey, in which he asks funded organisations to plan for 10% funding cuts for the year 2011-12.

Given the economic climate, and the fact we have been asked to model a reduction of up to 30% over four years, we are now asking you to model prudently for a minimum of a 10% reduction in your funding for 11/12. This figure is not final, but we suggest it is a reasonable figure for you to address at this point.

This allows us all to use 2011/12 as a year of transition that builds towards a new approach to the arts landscape, shaped by our ambitions for the arts. The Arts Council is developing Achieving great art for everyone, a 10-year strategic framework for the arts, setting out clearly what we want to achieve over the next 10 years. At the briefing sessions we will report back on responses to the consultation. It’s important that in this time of short-term cuts we keep our eye on the big picture, so that whatever cuts we do have to make now, art can still thrive over the next 10 years.