Government funding for the arts is made through Arts Council England according to the arm’s length principle. Decisions about which arts organisations to fund are therefore, a matter for the Arts Council.
Arts Council England advises that it provides the following grant in aid funding through its Regularly Funded Organisation programme. These figures do not include funding from the ‘Grants for the Arts’ initiative.
£ South West Wiltshire 2003-04 11,165,267 1,322,700 2004-05 12,850,250 1,472,053 2005-06 14,388,251 1,583,939 2006-07 15,143,175 1,682,272 2007-08 15,599,030 1,728,685 2008-09 16,292,393 1,775,357 2009-10 17,067,300 1,873,875 2010-11 17,544,491 1,924,469
Art Council England’s predecessors, the regional arts board, were independent bodies and maintained records according to their own systems and requirements. Consequently, Arts Council England is unable to provide compatible figures for the RFO portfolio in the years before 2003-04.