George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying: “Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable”, and hundreds of protesters invading Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery today would no doubt agree.

Economic recession doesn’t just mean essential social services are under threat – quality of life is very much at stake too. Today’s protesters peacefully occupied the Millennium Gallery (opened 2001) to have lunch, make music, and carry out crafts activities in order to make their concerns heard.

According to the city council, Sheffield’s museums and galleries face “large-scale redundancies” after the Arts Council of England turned down a bid for £4.2m of funding over the next three years.

Council leader Julie Dore said, “Large-scale staff redundancies, major reductions in exhibition programmes, and scaled-down learning provision are all now inevitable.” The local authority said its failure to obtain funding from the Renaissance Museum Development Fund will result in a “crushing” 30% cut in its arts budget from this April. Theatres and other arts facilities are also under threat.

Sheffield artist Pete McKee was pivotal to today’s demo and is adamant that proper arts funding is essential for giving “working class” people (like him) inspiration and access to art:

Wendy Wells, awarded an MBE for her tireless community activism, was also present. Wells and some of her friends were making coral out of fabric to add to one of the Millennium Gallery’s current shows and also found time to talk about what losing arts funding in Sheffield means:

The protesters’ ranks continued to swell on this overcast Sunday afternoon, indicating that their fight to stop a dimming of the arts in Sheffield is far from over.