In the turmoil of the new government’s stock-taking efforts, one edict has passed with little comment: a day before it was due to announce its new three-year funding commitment to arts organisations around the country, Arts Council England (ACE) was instructed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to hold fire. This might seem small beer in the context of all the departmental cuts coming down the line, but it has left the 828 national portfolio organisations – which ACE regards and supports as the nation’s crown jewels – in a terrifying 10-day limbo.
They include theatre, dance and opera companies, orchestras, art galleries and museums. For many, the fear is existential: it is not simply a question of whether their incomes will be reduced when the current term ends in April next year – most have anyway been bracing themselves for that – but whether they will survive at all.
