THE Lord Mayor’s Parade and Liverpool’s Performing Arts Festival are to be axed in cuts to the city’s cultural sector.

Arts organisations currently funded by the city council, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, will see a reduction of up to 20% in financial support for the year 2011/12.

Events unaffected by the cuts include Mathew Street, Hub and the River Festival, Slavery Remembrance Day and Chinese New Year.

RLPO chief conductor Vasily Petrenko last night warned such budget cuts could significantly impact on the quality of the city’s cultural offering.

The Phil faces a reduction in funding of £284,000 on its current £1.42m grant, which in addition to Arts Council cuts totals a revenue loss of £450,000 in 2011/12.

Petrenko said: “The orchestra and Liverpool City Council have achieved a huge amount together but all this could be lost very quickly with a reduction in funding of this scale. The most successful orchestras in the world are those which have artistic ambition fully backed by their local city.”