Grant-in-aid funding provided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to cultural organisations fell by 30 per cent last year, according to new data.
Figures released by the DCMS show the government department gave £1.3bn in grant-in-aid funding to 19 bodies in the year ending March 2023, a drop of 30 per cent on the previous year in real terms.
Organisations to receive funding included Arts Council England, the British Film Institute and Historic England.
The government report said the average proportion of grant-in-aid to total income over all institutions was 30.2 per cent, down from 42 per cent in 2021/22.
Data shows the fundraising to grant-in-aid ratio, excluding donated objects, increased from 26.9 per cent to 38.6 per cent.
This figure was 40.7 per cent when accounting for donated objects.
The report says: “For every £1 of grant-in-aid DCMS-funded cultural organisations received in 2022/23, they generated an additional 38.6 pence of fundraising income.”
Cultural organisations funded by the DCMS generated a total of £2.4bn through other activities such as trading, investment income and admission fees.
Adjusting for inflation, this was a 19.9 per cent increase compared to 2021/22, the DCMS said.
The average proportion of other income across the cultural institutions in 2022/23 was 57.4 per cent, rising from 46.6 per cent in 2021/22.
Organisations funded by the DCMS generated £492m through fundraising income, an 11.8 per cent increase on 2021/22 and a total of £27.5m from donated objects.
The DCMS said fundraising did not include any money received from a publicly-funded organisation, central government grants, investment income or lottery grant funding.