The English Folk Dance & Song Society has been devastated by the news of the total withdrawal of funding by Arts Council England.
The outrage expressed in the editorial of the upcoming December / January issue (No. 322) of Folk London is bound to be shared by many involved in the folk arts in England. Here is what the editorial says: -

The English Folk Dance and Song Society has been dealt a huge blow with the loss of all its Arts Council England (ACE) funding — news that justifiably provoked outrage across the folk world.
Sam Sweeney called it "catastrophic" and a "shambles", while Lunatraktors tweeted: "One of several horrifying decisions from the Arts Council, doing serious damage to valuable national services because they are mis-categorised as 'London-based'. "

And there's the core of it. It's hard to believe ACE hasn't been leaned on by the government to make a show of distributing money away from London, to compensate for the total failure of the Tories' supposed plans to "level up" the country.

However, the cuts will do damage nationwide. Angeline Morrison's The Sorrow Songs — one of our albums of the year — owes its existence to ACE funding. Angeline is Birmingham-born, living in Cornwall and writing songs of global resonance. She rightly described the funding cuts as "devastating news for the folk arts throughout England". Now, according to EFDSS, just £l out of every £l,116 distributed by ACE is going to folk music, down from an already tiny £l out of £760 — demonstrating the contempt we are held in by arts funding chiefs.
EFDSS has said it "will be engaging with ACE to understand their decision".
The rest of us should make our feelings known too — directly to ACE and via our MPs — about this act of cultural vandalism.