Despite having an extra £50m to play with this round, to a total of £467m, the Arts Council is looking to stop funding for 194 arts bodies, but adding 80 new names to the roster.
The Arts Council funds 22 organisations involved in literature, and is proposing to reduce or withdraw funding entirely from five.
The changes could impact the work these publishers offer to the UK book printing industry. The Arts Council proposed the changes on 12 December 2007 and will announce final decisions on 1 February 2008, giving those businesses affected little time to build in contingency plans.
"Some people will go bust, there's no doubt about it," said Eric Lane, managing director of UK publisher Dedalus, who was told the Arts Council intended to cut funding altogether. "We've got enough work in progress for the next 12 months, but based on [the Arts Council's] continued support."
A spokesperson for Anvil Press said the Arts Council had proposed cutbacks to its funding. He told printweek.com that any reduction in funding would directly impact the work the company was able to undertake and that he was "suspenseful and nervous" and "fed up with the speculation".
He added that because the time between being informed of the proposals and the decision was so short, he had "no emergency planning".
Other publishers would not comment.
A spokesperson from the Arts Council said the proposals would affect 20% of the 990 current recipients, but that "we gave organisations as long as we possibly could to respond to our proposals.
"Until we were told by the government how much money would be available, we could not finalise our funding proposals.
"In order to achieve our ambitions, we've had to take some tough decisions. Some organisations will be unhappy, but the majority will have a stronger, better future."
"We're going to sue them," said Lane, referring to a class-action suit the company is launching against the Arts Council England, alleging that it hasn't followed its own rules over disinvestment.
It has also launched an online petition, claiming high-profile support from the likes of Julian Barnes and Mariella Frostrup.
Many print stakeholders we spoke to were unaware of Arts Council England plans. A BPIF representative said he would canvas book printers on the issue.
