Links

Articles

News

Reviews

Amateur Theatre

Contact

Other Resources

Bookstore

Forum

Search the Site

Dateline: 4th December, 2006

Wales Arts Review Report

After a vote in the Assembly, Alun Pugh AM, Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport, invited an independent Review Panel to advise him on the future framework for funding arrangements which support the arts in Wales, including the role of the Arts Council of Wales. The Wales Arts Review was asked to produce a final report setting out conclusions and recommendations, together with relevant evidence, before December 2006.

The Panel consisted of six people with extensive interests and expertise, who were all committed to a robust and constructive analysis over the coming months.

The Review Panel examined:

1. The existing and future role of the Arts Council in relation to:
   • Funding the arts, including the National Arts Organisations;
   • Developing the arts;
   • Developing access to, and inclusion in the Arts in order to help reduce social inequalities;
2. The roles of the Arts Council and the Welsh Assembly Government in the future.
3. The way in which arts are funded in other countries, both as to the level and mechanisms, which may be relevant in the Welsh context.

In its work, the Panel was asked to take into account the need for:

• Democratic accountability
• Transparency and openness
• Artistic freedom
• An environment within which the arts can develop in all parts of Wales
• Improving access to the arts
• Improving excellence in the arts
• Active management and development of arts funding recipients

This report has now been completed and published. It offers what it calls a "radical solution" to the problems which have faced the Welsh arts world in recent years. It summarises its conclusions, which are intended to "are intended to strengthen the primary goal of developing and nurturing creative talent in the arts".in six sections:

• The Role of the Minister with Responsibility
• The Role of the Strategy Board (with membbrs from the Arts Council of Wales and the Assembly)
• The Role of National Companies
• The Role of the Arts Council of Wales
• Creating Excellence and Transparency
• The Role of Regional Partnerships

The most contentious of the proposals concern the role of the "National Companies" and of the Arts Council. On the latter, it says:

• The Panel recommends that ACW refocuses its priorities on the need to develop the arts in Wales. The Board and management of ACW should be capable of not only embracing, but delivering Wales’s ambitions for the arts. This change of focus may warrant a new name, for instance Arts Development Wales.
• ACW should retain its Board, Chair and Lottery awarding powers.
• ACW should act less as a gatekeeper body and more as an advocacy body for the organisations and companies at the Strategy Board and in other arenas.
• Advocacy for the arts in government should remain with the Minister; advocacy for companies and organisations and their development more generally should remain with ACW.
• ACW needs to further develop its art form and arts management expertise. In doing so, it should create an ongoing and meaningful sharing of ideas with client bodies and practitioners, thus drawing on their expertise.
• The Panel recommends much more emphasis on training and high level skills, and on more international and UK exchanges and shadowing opportunities. ACW should work with the sector skills councils in this context.
• Timeline: to be immediate and ongoing.

The whole document (88 pages) can be downloaded from
http://new.wales.gov.uk/docrepos/40382/403829/598040/WARversioniie.pdf?lang=en

|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|

News Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive

Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.

©Peter Lathan 2006