The current and future effects of the economic downturn on the arts understandably continue to be a main concern of the arts sector, particularly following the announcement of a £4 million cut in the Arts Council’s government funding for 2010/11.

This cut is in addition to the £6.5 million savings in running costs that we are already making as part of the original settlement.

We will do our best to protect the interests of audiences who deserve the best art there is. In implementing these cuts, we will not reduce our planned investment in the arts organisations we fund on a regular basis. Instead, we will reconsider our existing and planned new projects and look to find savings there.

This is a short-term solution, but not without its implications, as these projects are our investment in the development of the arts. The Arts Council will do all it can to keep that investment in place in the years ahead and continue to support innovation and creative courage, and focus on recovery. This is particularly vital when other sources of funding are under threat during the recession.

Practical steps

To ensure the continued success story of the arts through the recession we will take a number of practical steps:

Sustain
Sustain is a £40 million, open application fund which provides extra support for organisations under pressure as a result of recession. This is not a fund for failing organisations, but a way that we can sustain artistic excellence in the context of the economic downturn.

Arts Council England has made the first awards from its Sustain fund. Find out more on our Sustain page.

Sustain is funded from our Lottery income by reducing our Lottery cash balances to £30 million a year and is a fixed-term two-year programme (2009/10 and 2010/11) designed to address short-term needs (such as cash flow) and long-term sustainability. They are one-off awards to cover two years.

New Deal of the Mind
We have collaborated with New Deal of the Mind on a report, which was published on 24 July 2009. Do it yourself: cultural and creative self-employment in hard times provides research and analysis to inform thinking about opportunities for young self-employed creative people and the potential implications of the government’s Future Jobs Fund.

Art in empty spaces
Art in empty spaces, our £500,000 initiative to help artists and arts organisations turn vacant high street shops into vibrant artistic places, is now open for applications.

Grants for the arts
There will be additional support for individual artists and smaller arts organisations through Grants for the arts.

We are increasing our Grants for the arts budget from £52 million to £54 million in 2009/10 and to £56 million in 2010/11.

This increase has also been funded by reducing our Lottery cash balance.

Future Jobs Fund
The Government plans to support at least 5,000 short-term job opportunities in the arts and cultural sectors for long-term unemployed young people. While the Future Jobs Fund is still in development the Arts Council has agreed to work with the DCMS and the Department for Work and Pensions to explore how arts organisations can access it, and to ensure that the scheme is the best it can be for the arts. You can download a briefing note about the work. This briefing sets out the high level information about the initiative that we have so far. As work develops and detail is confirmed we will update this and continue to share it with you.

Other steps

• we will look to make the most of all our sources of public funding and invest it in the most strategic way into arts organisations
• we will be as flexible and supportive as possible to organisations whose plans have been thrown off centre by the recession
• we will seek to be a resource for the arts – through evidence gathering, partnership broking and the dissemination of good ideas and best practice
• we will conduct regular research to understand the whole, and changing, picture. The findings of our recession-led research and conversations are available here

As well as doing what we can to support artists and arts organisations, we will continue to champion the role of the arts in recovery from recession. Showing that the arts can make a real contribution in even the most difficult times will make the case for continued public investment in the arts and culture through – and beyond – the recession.