AS MIGHT  be expected, the announcement last week that government departments “unprotected” against cuts will have to face further budget reductions dismayed many in the arts world struggling to make ends meet and stay afloat.

Cuts to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport budget means that there’ll be a further funding reduction of 1.17 per cent to arts organisations in the current financial year and 1.13 per cent in 2015-6.

The reduction for 2015-6 is on top of the planned 5 per cent cut for that year announced in the Autumn Spending Review.

These extra cuts come at a time when councils are slashing their arts spending too — Moray Council is to stop funding the arts altogether and Newcastle city council announced at the end of last year that it intended to do the same. 

The consequences of this double-whammy are job losses, venues going dark and cuts to arts education, training and access. It is possible that museums and art galleries will start charging to make up for budgetary shortfalls and access to the visual arts will become an ever more elitist pursuit in consequence. 

That’s a bleak landscape. But it’s one that the Artists’ Assembly Against Austerity, which sprang into life last month, aims to redraw.

Drawing its inspiration from the massive People’s Assembly Against Austerity protest last June, it’s backed by a whole range of leading figures in the arts world including actor Maxine Peake, artist Peter Kennard, writer China Mieville, singers Billy Bragg and Grace Petrie and disabled performance artist Katherine Araniello. Hundreds of others have already pledged their support.

In a statement, they call on anyone involved in the creative arts to mobilise against the cuts in public and voluntary services introduced by the coalition government. 

“Artists have as much to lose as many other groups as a result of a dwindling public sector,” they say. “The Artists’ Assembly will provide a space in which we can mobilise to effect real change.”

Among the issues to be addressed is keeping the health service free at the point of need — a fully privatised healthcare system would leave many, including artists, without coverage. Of equal importance is the provision of affordable housing and studio space by capping rents. 

Maintaining access to arts education by scrapping tuition fees and ending cuts to creative subjects in schools and universities is a particularly acute issue given that £9,000 tuition fees are excluding working-class people from studying creative subjects and contributing to the gentrification of cultural life and artistic production as a result. 

It’s also an important demand because a recent report by the Cultural Learning Alliance of artists, parents, educators and teaching unions reinforces the long-held view that exposure to a broad mix of cultural experience from a young age improves attainment in all subjects and can demonstrably increase children’s cognitive skills.

And boosting investment in the arts would recognise that the sector provides a significant cash benefit to the taxpayer and plays a significant role in local economies, the statement says.

For the tide to turn, it’s demanding that there can be no further cuts to the cultural and heritage sectors and arts funding has to return to pre-2010 levels. 

Then, it has to be said, grant aid wasn’t exactly over-generous in enhancing access to, or widening participation in, the arts generally. But it would certainly be a step in the right direction and offer a focal point to unite the growing number of groups springing up which are opposing cuts to the cultural sector and arts education and access.

Online activism, demonstrations and art projects are among the initiatives the assembly’s got lined up in the near future to tackle these issues and if you want to offer support and get involved, email artists@thepeoplesassembly.org.uk. More information is available at artistsassembly.wix.com/artistsassembly.