The Arts Council of Wales (ACW) has published the final version of ?Supporting Creativity?, its 5-year Arts Development Strategy for 2002-2007, together with full details of how responses to its earlier consultation document have been taken into account.
But while the Arts Council of England celebrates the announcement of a further £75m over 3 years for the arts in England (p3),ACW is having to warn that the delivery of its strategy is dependent on the outcome of its forthcoming bid for funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, and that it is unlikely that the full funding request will be granted to cover the first year. In its Corporate Plan, due to be completed and submitted to Government in September, ACW is requesting a funding uplift of almost £27m over three years ? an increase above current levels of £11.9m in 2003/4, £5.4m in 2004/5, and a further £9.7m in 2005/6 - to enable it to deliver the proposals contained in the strategy. A further case is to be made for additional operating costs to cover staffing, IT and premises. Announcements of the resource allocation to ACW will be made in November 2002, and at that point the timetable for the activities prioritised in the strategy, including the further development of a National Welsh Language Theatre Company (see below) and support for youth theatre across Wales, will be reviewed.
Three elements of the strategy are considered to be above prioritisation, in that their requirements for funding are determined by factors outside ACW?s direct control. £350,000 has been earmarked to fund the increased running costs that the seven companies moving into the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) in Cardiff will incur when they take up residency; £3m is to be set aside for revenue funding for the rest of Wales when the WMC opens; and £4m will be used to address the needs of 57 venues across Wales which need financial support to enable them to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. Strategies given lower priority, such as the moving of serially project-funded clients on to revenue funding agreements, are the most likely to be diluted or abandoned if the Assembly fails to meet ACW?s funding bid.