The Arts Council of Wales (ACW) has launched a new funding initiative in an attempt to develop what its Chief Executive, Peter Tyndall, has described as ?a sustainable future for the arts in Wales.? Nine Welsh arts companies have been accepted onto a pilot £1m scheme to enable them to review their business practice and explore ways of improving their managerial capacity and financial position.
Whilst similar to Arts Council England?s Stabilisation and Recovery Programmes, the new Programme for Sustainable Arts Organisations is not designed for companies in immediate financial danger, but is intended to help key strategic organisations from across Wales to expand ?their performance in areas critical to their ability to survive and prosper.? The selected organisations include several theatres: the Torch Theatre in Milford Haven, Cardiff?s Sherman and Chapter Theatres, and Theatr Gwynedd. The other companies selected for the pilot scheme are Cardiff Arts Marketing, the mid-Wales community arts organisation CARAD, public arts consultancy CBAT, dance agency Dawns i Bawb, Music Theatre Wales and the Oriel Davies Gallery. Over the next six months, the organisations will work with consultants to pinpoint management requirements. These will then be targeted with financial support through the scheme. Commenting on the initiative and its conjunction with the recently announced Arts Outside Cardiff funding, a spokesman for ACW said, ?We have tried not to spread the jam too thinly. We have two distinct, new funding streams and we are establishing a correlation between what we want them both to achieve. This is part of an attempt to secure a sustainable arts ecology for Wales.?
Published: 18-10-2004