A special grant of £560,000 has been awarded to Flintshire Council by the National Assembly for Wales to enable Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold to write off its outstanding debts.
The theatre, which has an international reputation and is widely viewed as Wales’ National Theatre, had run up debts of more than £900,000. Although the theatre's artistic director Terry Hands has worked successfully with the Council to significantly shrink the deficit, the one-off grant now puts the theatre back on a sound financial footing. Clwyd Theatr Cymru receives two-thirds of its funding from the Arts Council of Wales, with the remainder from Flintshire Council which inherited it from Clwyd County Council in 1996 following the introduction of unitary authorities. Council leader Alex Aldridge has described the windfall as a “major announcement which will hugely benefit the ratepayers of Flintshire”, and Margaret Hanson, Chair of the theatre's Board, has welcomed the move as complimenting the work that the theatre has already done to repay its debts.