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Warning signals about future Government arts budgets have been issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), currently in the midst of a Spending Review which will determine its Treasury funding up to 2009/10. Speaking about a financial settlement for the arts at the annual conference of nalgao, the national association of local government arts officers, Phil Clapp, Head of Arts at the DCMS, warned that the prospects are perhaps quite different from those that applied in the early days of this Government.
He referred to the 5% real-terms budget cuts that have already been agreed between the Treasury and other Government departments, saying that, an inflationary increase would be a major success for the DCMS. Actors union Equity has already started its campaign to ensure that funding for theatre is not forgotten within the Governments spending plans. It is calling on all its members to send a postcard or write a personal letter to their local MPs, making the case for better funding of theatres. Equitys branches and committees will be making contact with their local subsidised theatres to offer Equity postcards to audience members so that theatregoers can join the campaign.