IAA Images Magazine September 2010

COMMENT
Editor Joy Bounds

Welcome to images. Perhaps I should say, welcome back to images after a brief break. I hope everyone is refreshed and ready to forget sea, sun and sand, delightful though they are, and re-embrace the local arts scene.

I’m confident you will find articles of interest here, and it would be great if some of you were inspired to put pen to paper, as it were, and let us know your views. Are there things you would like to say to Andrew Cann through images, after reading his initial thoughts since taking on IBC Culture Portfolio? And what do you reckon to Hilli’s scathing comments about the Saatchi Exhibition at the Old Art School? Perhaps you experienced it in a different way – let us know.

We’ve already seen a lot of cuts to services, and all the talk of further cuts will be resolved by the Government in October. What is likely to happen to the arts? James Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, the Olympics, Media and Sport has already decided to cut his relatively tiny department by half. But it is the Arts Council budget we need to keep an eye on. Arts Council England has a budget of £445 million and funds 800 organisations – and has signalled that perhaps funding will no longer be available to 200 of those. Arts Council East has already asked for organisations to make 10% savings this year, and is requesting remodelled business plans showing a 25%-35% cut over the next 3-4 years.

Andrew Clarke, Arts Editor of EADT, talked to the CEOs of the major recipients of Arts Council funding in this area during July, and his article showed how grimly determined these organisations are to ensure they can stay in business whilst making major changes. Andrew made a comment which I felt summed up what a lot of us feel: ‘… to come out of recession, people have to be living, not just existing. There must be optimism and the arts have a vital role to play in this.’

The effect of all these things on the non-professional arts sector is hard to define. Many organisations are worrying about falling memberships (ie less subscriptions), and falling viewers/audiences. Maybe we’re all going to have to fight hard to keep these going because we know how they benefit each of us as individuals as well as the whole community..

Contact Joy Bounds on 01473 250400 or at imageseditor@ipswich-arts.org.uk