Arts funding boost after council cuts

Protesters have been calling to stop cuts to the arts budget in Birmingham

Funding pledged by the government to help arts in the West Midlands will be matched by the combined authority.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced £10m of funding for culture projects in the West Midlands region during his budget speech on Wednesday.

The BBC has since learned that this amount will be doubled by the combined authority, led by mayor Andy Street.

Birmingham City Council signed off plans to slash all of its funding to arts and culture organisations over the next two years at its budget meeting on Tuesday.

Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street

Although the cash will be spent across the wider region – it is understood some of the money will be used to plug the arts funding gap left in Birmingham following the council cuts.

Conservative mayor Andy Street said he’d asked the chancellor for culture funding when details of the Birmingham budget cuts began to emerge.

He said: “We are doubling that to £20m. Cash that we’ve assembled because culture is so important to the future of the West Midlands the lifeblood of the place, and of course we saw that in the response to the Birmingham City Council cuts this week.”

The additional combined authority cash has been raised from a £6m underspend on the Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham in 2022, and £4m from wider devolution funding received from the government last year.

The culture funding announced by the chancellor in the budget was described by Labour’s West Midlands mayor candidate Richard Parker as “mere crumbs” in the context of local government funding cuts.

He said: “What the government are offering will make no difference to the people of the West Midlands or the people living in our poorest communities. It really is a pinprick on the backside of an elephant.”

Richard Parker, Labour's West Midlands Mayor candidate

Birmingham International Dance Festival will lose its £350,000 funding and grants to regularly funded arts organisations will face 50% cuts this year and 100% next financial year.

They include:

• City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

• Birmingham REP Theatre

• Birmingham Royal Ballet

• IKON Gallery

• Birmingham Opera Company

• FABRIC

• Sampad

• Ex Cathedra

• Legacy Centre of Excellence

• B:Music