This week’s landmark report into The State of the Arts paints a picture of a cultural sector that will be familiar to readers of The Stage, pulling together the threads of stories we have been regularly covering over the past decade and more.

The past 14 years of Conservative-led government have seen funding for the sector fall dramatically, resulting in a reduction in the number of live events being staged, while access to arts education has become increasingly unequal, with fewer arts teachers, lower hours of arts teaching and reduced funding for specialist training.

It is, the report’s authors claim, a genuine crisis. We are heading over the cliff edge.