The BBC reports that the Arts Council of Wales (ACW) has agreed to a stablisation grant of £4m (60% from ACE and 40% from ACW) to the Welsh National Opera, although an official announcement will not be made until after the election. This is a major change of direction for the Welsh organisation as, alone of all the arts councils, it has never given stabilisation funding, claiming that rescuing failing companies is not a priority. Now that the policy seems to have changed, it is expected that a number of companies in Wales will apply for extra funding, among them the Chapter Arts Centre and the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff.
WNO's programming is central to the business plan of the new Millennium Centre in Cardiff, so it is possible that ACW will attempt to pass this off, not as a change of policy but as a one-off special situation.