If 2010 was a tumultuous, painful year in terms of spending on the arts then there is little doubt 2011 will top it.
Wherever you look – in cities, towns and villages – arts funding is being snipped and hacked and in some cases being axed altogether. Whether it is the government or the Arts Council or local authorities, arts organisations, university departments, libraries and more are facing cutbacks not seen for a generation.
Which is why we're going to attempt, from today, to corral what we can into one place in an attempt to get a better grip on what is something of a confused picture. And we need your help.
So welcome to the launch of the Guardian's Culture Cuts blog. Everyone is welcome. Canapes are not provided.
This, we hope, will become a kind of one-stop shop for everything related to arts cuts this year – news, debate, campaigns, the lot.
We can't be everywhere and with cuts taking place all over the UK we need your help. Whether you're working for an arts organisation or use the arts in your local area, we need you to tell us what's happening. We'll try and follow up your stories and get answers from the people in power. If we are not highlighting cuts in your area, then please tell us.
Hopefully it will not be a list of relentless bad news and misery. Artists and arts groups are resilient and innovative and we want to hear how you're coping with the cuts.
It will also be a forum to debate the wider issues: why is public funding of the arts important? How do we compare with other countries? Are some cuts good?
Where are we at the moment? Well, arts organisations are facing uncertainty in three main areas - money from government (as in arts councils and lottery), from private sources and from local authorities.
In England, all 850 organisations regularly funded by the arts council will be cut by 6.9% in 2011/2012. That is being billed as a transitional year with even bigger changes on the horizon. Each organisation is in the process of re-applying for money from the Arts Council's reduced budget. The deadline is 24 January. By March arts organisations will know if they are being cut further (it may be that funding rises, or that they are cut altogther to make way for new organisations) and it could mean between 100-200 losing funding entirely.
Local authorities, meanwhile, are making their own cuts and the fear is that arts are something of an easy target. Councils making severe funding cuts include Somerset, Birmingham, Barnet and West Sussex with the list expected to get longer and longer.
So today the journey begins. Do leave your comments or contact us via Twitter (@culture_cuts) and feel free to email me direct at mark.brown@guardian.co.uk
• You can catch up with our coverage of funding cuts so far on our arts funding keyword page
