Art Fund increases funding by 50%

13 April 2011 Last updated at 09:57 GMT The Art Fund helped raise money to save the Staffordshire Hoard A charity that helps Britain's museums and galleries to buy works of art has said it is going increase its level of funding by more than 50% by 2014.

The Art Fund, which currently distributes £4.5m annually, will increase its funding to £7m a year.

It said the move was in response "to the severe financial pressures facing most institutions".

The charity has given more than £24m to 248 museums over the past five years through grants and fundraising.

The Art Fund also announced its plans to develop and expand its funding programme.

It said it would run more public fundraising campaigns to save art at risk of being lost from UK collections, such as its recent £6m Brueghel and Staffordshire Hoard campaigns.

The charity has also formed a new partnership with the National Gallery to offer funded curatorial traineeships in two regional museums.

Tate director Nicholas Serota said: "I applaud the bold commitment of the Art Fund at a time when so many funding bodies are reducing their support for museums.

"If our museums are to thrive, we must continue to grow and develop our collections."

The Art Fund also relaunched its membership card - which will now be known as the National Art Pass - offering free or discount admission to more than 200 museums and galleries.

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Actors protest over art funding

8 April 2011 Last updated at 10:24 GMT Sir Patrick Stewart (centre) and Samuel West (r) are among actors against arts cuts

Some of the UK's leading actors have gathered in London to protest against the recent round of Arts cuts.

Sir Patrick Stewart, Penelope Wilton and Samuel West are among the stars who have signed and delivered a petition to Downing Street calling for a "coherent" arts policy.

Last week, more than 200 organisations lost out on annual funding from Arts Council England.

Sir Patrick told the BBC he felt the cuts were "unnecessary".

The petition asks the government for an "arts summit" involving funding bodies and artists to give the industry a clear direction.

"We don't know what policy exists," said Sir Patrick. "We know that we represent part of British culture, which is a massive success. It seems as though we're just adrift."

Some 695 groups will get funding for 2012 to 2015 - down from 849 - while 110 new groups have been successful.

West said the arts industry was the "second most profitable sector in Britain" and it was important funding continued to keep the sector going.

"It ain't broke, so don't fix it, a £100 million cut to a £450 million budget is not minor," he added.

"We want a government funded Arts Council that allows us to be as successful as we are at the moment and continue to play our part in paying for hospital beds. We're profitable. We want to continue to be.

"I would accept the need for cuts if they were equal across sectors but I don't think banks are paying their due."

Meanwhile, Sky has launched a £1.2 million fund, which is aimed at supporting arts organisations across the UK.

The Sky Arts Ignition Series, will pledge up to £200,000 to six arts organisations over the next three years.

Each of the projects created from the money will be promoted on Sky Arts.

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Funding blows for VisitScotland

12 February 2011 Last updated at 00:19 GMT VisitScotland said it was aware a number of councils were cutting or freezing their funding to the agency VisitScotland has suffered a fresh series of funding blows following budget cuts by Scottish councils.

Glasgow City Council and Scottish Borders Council are among several authorities who are to cut funding to the agency.

Glasgow alone is to pull £400,000 in funding to the tourism quango and focus on its own city marketing bureau.

Last year, the Scottish government reduced VisitScotland's funding by 6.3% to £41m.

Scottish councils contribute about £4m a year to the national tourism organisation, with the rest of its funding coming from commercial partners.

The move by Glasgow follows a similar step two years ago by Edinburgh City Council when it pulled its funding of more than £500,000 to VisitScotland. City councillors claimed at the time that Scotland's capital was not getting good value for money.

Glasgow City Council said on Friday its decision to end funding was on cost grounds.

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We would expect that as the funding situation improves we will work closely on a project basis as good joint opportunities arise”

End Quote VisitScotland spokeswoman A spokeswoman said: "The reason we took this funding decision was that we have our own marketing bureau which does a good job.

"We have been reducing our funding to VisitScotland over the past couple of years."

VisitScotland said it was aware a number of councils were cutting or freezing their funding to the agency but said many of the funding decisions were unconfirmed and no jobs were at risk.

It also stressed it would continue to work closely with local authorities and "market every area of Scotland".

Following Glasgow's decision to cut its funding, a spokeswoman for VisitScotland said: "As the lead agency for leisure tourism in Glasgow, we will continue to work closely with tourism businesses, the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, other tourism partners and the council to support ongoing promotion to bring visitors to the area.

"We would expect that as the funding situation improves we will work closely on a project basis as good joint opportunities arise."

She added: "We are determined to continue the good work being carried out in Glasgow and our focus will be on helping the tourism industry to market itself to key local, national and international audiences to ensure continuing growth."

'Disappointing'

In a separate development this week, VisitScotland reacted with disappointment to news that VisitBritain is to shed nearly 70 jobs as part of a global cost-cutting strategy.

Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland's chief executive, said any cut in tourism spend was "obviously disappointing".

He continued: "Fortunately, the offices that VisitBritain is continuing to operate are within our key emerging markets, including China, Russia and India.

"Given that Scotland has its own distinct brand, this country already has a strong presence in key overseas markets, such as North America and mainland Europe.

"We will also be working with VisitBritain to make sure that the option of travelling to Scotland forms an integral part of its London Olympics campaign."

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