Calls for action have been sounded across Aberdeen to try to save “vital” services earmarked for the axe in Wednesday’s council budget.
The local authority faces a black hole of more than £46 million.
In an attempt to try to stem it, a raft of public resources including schools, the arts and support for those living in poverty have been earmarked as areas for severe cuts.
Arts leaders have already warned that slashing Aberdeen’s culture budget would cost jobs and “tarnish the city’s reputation”.
And now a petition has been launched in the hopes of conveying how much the sector means to the people of Aberdeen.
Belmont’s future relies on cultural community in Aberdeen
Those behind the ‘Save the Belmont Cinema’ campaign group said the proposed cuts were “unprecedented”.
And they said this could potentially affect the prospects of reopening the independent cinema once more.
Jacob Campbell, who started the petition, said: “They are unlike anything that we have seen before. We believe that, without intervention, they could potentially spell the death knell for our city’s creative spaces.”
He said the cuts would “negatively impact the delicate cultural ecosystem required to allow the successful and sustainable reopening of the Belmont Cinema”.
“These destructive and dangerous cuts will invariably lead to job losses in our cultural sector in Aberdeen, just as the sector is beginning to recover from the coronavirus pandemic,” he added.
“Sadly, we believe that they will also impoverish our city, tarnish our reputation for the arts, and lead to fewer cultural opportunities for future generations of Aberdonians.
“We believe that if the councillors decide to take these measures, it would be nothing short of cultural vandalism that will negatively impact our city for years to come.”
‘Enough is enough’
Aberdeen Trades Union Council is also urging the public to come out on the morning of the budget to make their feelings known about cuts to the Fairer Aberdeen Fund.
It was established to help tackle poverty and deprivation in priority areas of the city including Cummings Park, Mastrick, Middlefield, Northfield, Seaton, Tillydrone, Woodside and Torry.
Aberdeen TUC president, Graeme Farquhar, said: “This proposal, along with all the financial cuts proposed, will have a detrimental and catastrophic effect on many community organisations in Aberdeen who are giving critical support to people suffering hardship and poverty due to the cost-of-living crisis.”
A protest is to be held outside the Town House on Broad Street at 10am, to lobby the city councillors with the message “enough is enough”.
Mr Farquhar said he will also be requesting the right to address the chamber during the budget meeting to ensure there are “no cuts to community organisations or council jobs and services.”
You can sign the arts petition here.
Conversation