ACROSS THE POND: ARTS WORLD BRACED FOR 'HURRICANE' AS RECESSION HITS

Two years ago, almost to the day, Tony Blair addressed a crowd of cultural leaders in the Tate Modern. He talked of the past decade as a “golden age” for the arts. Art, he said, “enlarges a country’s capacity to be reflective, interested and bold. Dynamism in arts and culture creates dynamism in a nation.”

But now cultural leaders are warning that this period of huge success could come to an abrupt end as a “perfect storm” ravages Britain’s artistic and creative life.

Alan Davey, chief executive of Arts Council England, warns that if government funding collapsed during the recession, “organisations would enter a spiral of decline, some would go to the wall and it would take an enormous amount of money to get them going again.” Read More.