![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Dec25-Equity-Protest-Against-Culture-Cuts-Outside-Bristol-City-Hall-On-Wednesday-November-26-Image.jpeg\")
Equity protest against culture cuts outside Bristol City Hall on Wednesday, November 26(Image: Equity\/Luke John Emmett)<\/p>\nBristol City Council plans to cut all \u00a3635k of fundingEquity protest against culture cuts outside Bristol City Hall on Wednesday, November 26(Image: Equity\/Luke John Emmett)<\/p>\n
More than 1,100 arts and culture champions, including many of Bristol\u2019s globally famous heavyweights in the sector, have signed a strongly worded open letter to the city council<\/a> opposing huge cuts to creative groups.<\/p>\n Leaders from Aardman, Watershed, Bristol Beacon, Bristol Old Vic, Arnolfini, and the city\u2019s Balloon Fiesta are among those urging the local authority to abandon plans in its annual budget to gut all \u00a3635,000<\/a> from its Cultural Investment Programme (CIP) by 2029.<\/p>\n And it has now emerged that ideas from consultants commissioned by the council to identify replacement funding to plug the gap would generate only \u00a3225,000 annually after five years<\/a> \u2013 about a third of the current pot of grants.<\/p>\n A report to the strategy and resources committee, which will vote on the proposals on Monday, December 15, said the money would come from developer contributions, called strategic Community Infrastructure Levy, a new philanthropic fund and a membership scheme to generate grassroots support.<\/p>\n The open letter to the council said: \u201cWe are writing collectively as organisations and individuals across Bristol\u2019s cultural sector to express our deep concern about the proposed closure of the Cultural Investment Programme in the council\u2019s draft 2026\/27 budget.<\/p>\n \u201cBristol trades on its cultural reputation, yet after years of chronic underinvestment, the ecology that sustains the city\u2019s creative life is beginning to break down.<\/p>\n \u201cAt present, the council invests just 0.1 per cent of its budget in supporting the cultural sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThis investment programme is currently paused, with only existing commitments being honored.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before this, the level of support was woefully insufficient, facing cuts of 40 per cent between 2018 and 2023 alone.<\/p>\n \u201cYet the council\u2019s own research shows that the cultural sector generated \u00a3892.9million in economic impact in 2023\/24.<\/p>\n \u201cIn other words, culture is central to Bristol\u2019s economic success, yet by withdrawing support the council demonstrates a lack of understanding of the underlying ecology that makes this success possible.\u201d<\/p>\n It said the crisis could not have hit at a worse time.<\/p>\n \u201cBristol now has the most unaffordable housing outside London with opportunities not available to match the high cost of living,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe result is a city that has become increasingly hostile to the artists and cultural workers who make it thrive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe damage is already visible \u2013 longstanding cultural organisations are being forced to close while others are scaling back their programmes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no easy solutions, but it is time for the council to face reality: cultural support cannot be cut indefinitely without severe social and economic consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cCulture is not a luxury \u2013 it is the lifeblood of Bristol, and it is time the city invested in it accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n The local authority\u2019s own research found that every \u00a31 it invests leverages \u00a388 from arts organisations and that the cultural sector reached almost 11million people in 2023\/24, delivering \u00a3122.4million in social value through health, education and community building.<\/p>\n