I'm shocked to hear this and it would be good to get details re: how the other English regional groups are doing. The initial message seems to assume that all will suffer the same fate as the one; t'ain't necessarily so.

Just a bit of pendantry now. Let's be precise and say "Arts Council of England". Scotland, N. Ireland and Wales all have their own ACs, which is not to say that those of us in those areas are 'safe' of course.

As Director of trac (www.trac-cymru.org) I'm on the ACWales Umbrella Bodies forum and we've been told point-blank that the next three (or so) years are going to be as choppy as hell, and that there WILL be some organizations which will be cut - core funding and project funding. It actually started last year, and none of us are safe. And, yes, the Olympics plays a huge part in all this. I think the misery will be right across the board, as it is in England; readers who aren't in the thick of all this should be told that the ACE cuts, and wooly statements re: 'quality', are being challenged by theatres/drama clients, and others as well.

In Wales, a lot of Arts organizations are being told to talk to each other and merge with similar funded bodies where at all possible to save on overheads and rationalize work. We already work on a shoestring with very low overheads and few merger possibilities; I have no idea how 'safe' our funding is but we've made great efforts to tie ourselves in with other government priorities like 'social cohesion' and 'cultural tourism' and ACW doesn't core fund any other 'trad arts' outfit ... so we're ploughing on.

Anyway, fingers crossed for all of us, and particularly for Folk South West.

sian