The Audit Committee of the Welsh National Assembly is to demand further explanations from the Arts Council of Wales (ACW)about its handling of the Lottery bid for Cardiff 's Centre for Visual Arts (CVA)(see ArtsProfessional issue 14, November 19).
Millions of pounds of public money were spent on CVA, whose financial difficulties forced it to close just 14 months after it first opened. The Committee, which warned that lessons had to be learned from the episode, was dissatisfied with the explanations provided by ACW 's new Chief Executive, Peter Tyndall, who was not involved in the failed project, having been in post only six weeks. Assembly Member Jocelyn Davies said, "...so many of the answers were speculative and not based on proper information on what went on. We need another hearing to get to the bottom of what exactly took place and why procedures and the advice from assessors was ignored." Former ACW chief executives, Joanna Weston and Emyr Jenkins, and former chairman Sir Richard Lloyd Jones, are among a high profile group now to appear before another hearing.
Published: 03-12-2001