The Public Campaign for the Arts has highlighted the systematic decline in arts funding by local authorities since 2010.

In new research published recently and based on official Government data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, it was found that local authority expenditure on all cultural services – including public libraries, entertainment venues, museums, galleries and recreation facilities – has halved across England since 2010.

Jack Gamble, director of the Public Campaign for the Arts, said: “The arts are not a luxury – they provide vital benefits to our lives and communities. We appreciate the financial pressures that local councils are under, partly due to cuts from national government since 2010, but sacrificing our cultural services is not the answer. We have to find a way to keep funding them alongside other services – it shouldn’t be an either/or.”