Portsmouth’s cultural sector continues to thrive despite budget cuts, a success that city leaders are celebrating.
Portsmouth City Council Leader, praised the collaborative efforts that have allowed ongoing investment in cultural services, which he says remain vital to residents even as government funding has decreased.
The councils faced significant funding reductions, including a 5% cut to culture, leisure, and sports services.
Portsmouth City Council Leader Cllr Steve Pitt said: “Portsmouth’s culture sector has a collaborative mindset and we’re really proud of the great partnership work that happens across our city so that Portsmouth bucks the trend of cuts and closures. The way we’ve worked with organisations has meant we’ve contributed money enabling them to bid and receive further funding to put on events and festivals that our residents really enjoy.
“Some government figures have suggested our budget for cultural services went up 4% since 2010/11, but that’s really misleading. It doesn’t account for inflation, estimated at 51.5% during that time, so what we have seen in reality is a big real terms cut.”
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