A no-deal Brexit would cause severe disruption across the UK’s culture, science and design sectors, industry leaders have said.

The expected loss of EU funding and uncertainty over the status of EU nationals after March 2019 meant UK museums were already losing scientists, researchers and curators, and there was a shortage of archaeologists, they said.

Although the Brexit white paper states the UK will seek a culture and education accord with the EU, Bernard Donoghue, the director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, said cultural organisations believed the government was unlikely to replace European Union funding for museums and the arts in the event of a no-deal.

“In the last six months, we’ve seen UK cultural organisations increasingly excluded from EU funding initiatives in anticipation of Brexit,” Donoghue said. “We’re already seeing a brain drain of skilled workers in the culture, science and design sectors who are leaving because either they know that the EU funding for their job is going to dry up or they’re insecure about the status of their jobs post-March 2019.”

He added: “The effect of a no-deal on the whole of the economy would be so profound that when it comes to any kind of commitment about future funding, all bets are off. It’s difficult to imagine how the whole cultural sector will not be affected detrimentally.”

A spokeswoman for Arts Council England said: “Over two-thirds of our funded organisations work internationally and in the event of a no-deal Brexit, many would feel the impact immediately.

“The range of issues include staff and artists requiring visas, equipment needing carnets and exhibitions needing licences to tour, in addition to increased costs relating to working or touring overseas.”

'A Brexited flatland’: Peter Gabriel hits out after Womad stars refused entry to UK Read more

A House of Lords report in July said that leaving the EU without an effective Brexit deal “would be to the detriment of the cultural sector, and represent a significant loss to audiences that enjoy seeing talent from across Europe performing [here]”.

Alistair Brown, the policy officer at the Museums Association, said EU funding and talent was already going elsewhere because of the uncertainty about Brexit and the prospect of no deal.

“No-deal also puts the legal systems that museums use to lend and borrow cultural objects across the EU at risk. That could deprive museums of major objects for exhibitions in the UK.”

Loyd Grossman, the chairman of the Heritage Alliance, said a no-deal Brexit would have significant consequences for heritage projects, which received at least £450m in EU funding in 2007-16 and relied on significant numbers of EU workers. He added: “Preventing access to EU labour could jeopardise huge heritage projects such as the restoration of the Palace of Westminster.”

Kate Geary, from the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists, said EU nationals made up to 60% of workers on some projects. She said the obligation to carry out such work may be scrapped due to staff shortages, which would be “detrimental to the country’s heritage”.

A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “We have outlined plans for a new UK-EU culture and education accord. This will allow for UK participation in some EU-funded programmes, support the protection of international cultural heritage and allow for the temporary movement of goods for major events, tours and exhibitions.”

Donoghue added that Brexit had already affected tourism to the UK, with a slowing down in bookings from long-haul markets, such as China, Japan and the US. “That’s in anticipation of the effect on visa requirements, on queues and the impact on the economy.”

