Culture Chronicle

We Cannot Offset Arts Cuts, Say Philanthropists
The Independent - July 16, 2010
By Arifa Akbar

Some of Britain's most prominent philanthropists who have donated hundreds of millions of pounds to the creative industries are warning that private giving will not bridge the gap left by imminent cuts to state funding for the arts.

A number of leading arts benefactors have argued that philanthropy cannot fill the hole that the threatened 25 to 40 per cent cuts under the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review will leave if they are pushed through later this summer.

Arts organisations have already received letters preparing them for this potential outcome. Their words came as the Arts Council warned that 30 per cent cuts over the next four years would mean severing the funding lifeline to at least 200 arts organisations out of 850 which it currently funds, with the subsequent loss of thousands of jobs.

Philanthropists including Sir John Ritblat, who has given to the British Library and the Wallace Collection; Anthony D'Offay, the art dealer who sold his private collection to the state for a fraction of its market value; Lord Stevenson, who has funded the Tate; Dr Keith Howard, who has given millions to Opera North; and Terry Bramall, who has helped arts in the north and Midlands, have all signed a letter to the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

It warns that philanthropy is in addition to, not a substitute for, state funding. Addressing the Government's enthusiasm for the American arts funding model which relies heavily on philanthropy, they call for tax incentives that echo that transatlantic model (which offers philanthropists tax breaks in their lifetime) that the Treasury does not have in place. It also points out that such private giving has seen a significant drop in America, in the harsh current financial climate. For the full article, click here