Slashed Budgets Risk Making U.K. a Backwater, Say Arts Chiefs

The heads of U.K. arts bodies begged the government to “cut us but don’t kill us,” warning that if belt-tightening was drastic and immediate, museums would cancel blockbuster shows, theaters would go dark, and 200 of 850 state-funded bodies would lose their subsidy.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who took over in May, plans spending cuts and tax rises totaling 113 billion pounds ($174 billion) to rein in a deficit that has widened to 11 percent of economic output. In May, the arts got a 61 million pound trim. Bigger scalebacks will be announced in October, with most departments facing inflation-adjusted cuts of 25 percent by 2015.