Meanwhile, Campaign for the Arts’ director Jack Gamble said the CCN’s report demonstrated that a “step change” for the funding of local authorities was “long overdue” to keep the creative industries, as well as the councils themselves, afloat.

Gamble cited his organisation’s recent State of the Arts report, which found that between 2009-10 and 2022-23, English councils’ per person funding for culture and related services fell by 48% in real terms.

“Councils are grappling with rising costs and demands for social care, children’s services and home-to-school transport, all while their spending power has been severely reduced after years of austerity,” Gamble told The Stage.

He added: “A step change is long overdue – not only to protect the arts, but many other essential services that councils have historically supported but increasingly cannot.

“This will require swift and decisive action from the UK government, to restore grant funding for councils and to finally reform the way that social care is supported and delivered.”