DOZENS of voluntary arts groups across Southampton say they are facing a cash crisis because of council cutbacks.

Friends of Flautissimo, a youth orchestra group, Southampton Books for Children and Southampton Lace-makers are among the groups under threat.

City council bosses have slashed grants to Southampton Arts Council, an umbrella body which gives small hand-outs to voluntary arts groups across Southampton.

Just last week, the Arts Council staged a free arts festival at St Mary's Church in Southampton, showcasing the work of dozens of voluntary groups across the city.

But chairman Yvonne Bell says the festival - the first of its kind to be held in the city - could also be the last.

She said: "For the first time the city council has not given one single penny. Voluntary arts groups are saying they can't afford to pay their subs to the Arts Council if we are not going to give them any money."

Last week, the city council announced plans for a multi-million-pound arts facility in the planned "cultural quarter" of the city.

The Arts Council fears voluntary groups will be excluded from exhibiting at the new building.

Ms Bell said: "I think we will be frozen out."

Janet Brown Murphy, chairman of Southampton Books for Children, said: "We rely on the grant and take an author or illustrator into the schools in the city every term. Every time we take someone, we have to pay them."

Lib Dem Cabinet member for leisure Councillor Peter Wakeford said the cuts were agreed in February when the Labour group was in control.