Axe hangs over London arts groups as grants are slashed

Up to 100 publicly funded art organisations could be forced to close under a strict new regime for awarding grants, experts warned today.

The Arts Council said that from 2012, more than 800 regularly funded bodies, including the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House, will have to reapply for vital grants. It comes just days after the arts world faced large spending cuts as part of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review.

It means that scores of organisations could be forced to shut down nationwide, many in London, as they fail to secure any public money.

The council announced today that it is also cutting all grants by 6.9 per cent next year while total funding for the years 2012 to 2015 will be reduced by almost 14 per cent.

But it was stressed that some organisations might receive increases in funding, while others would have the opportunity to apply for the first time. Full details of the new criteria are due to be announced early next month. The Arts Council itself faces a 50 per cent cut in its £22million administrative budget which is expected to lead to further redundancies among its 500 staff.

A spokesman said: "All organisations will be asked to reapply for funding and decisions will be made against clear strategic aims. Some organisations will not receive funding in future."

The criteria will be more focused, aimed at achieving a tighter delivery of the arts, said the spokesman

The Arts Council is making a 64 per cent cut to its £32million development fund, which supports one-off arts festivals and touring programmes by theatres such as the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Court.

The raft of measures was announced as a consequence of the council's £449million annual funding being cut by 29.6per cent over four years, or £457million, in last week's comprehensive spending review.

The body has previously warned that up to 100 organisations could go under during that period because of the cumulative effect of cuts by both itself and local authorities. Small, community-based bodies are most at risk.

Liz Forgan, who chairs the Arts Council, admitted the cuts were "severe" but stressed that the body had been working with arts organisations to minimise the impact.

The council's annual income from the Lottery, which is used for one-off grants for individual artists and to fund major projects such as the new theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company, is unaffected.

The cut in grants has been kept to a minimum because of more substantial reductions in the council's creativity, culture and education budget - which funds the arts in education - and in its grant to the Arts and Business organisation which supports corporate sponsorship of the arts.

Both grants have been halved initially and the latter will be withdrawn altogether after 2012.