Helping its revenue-funded organisations to realise the full potential of their facilities is central to a new draft Capital Strategy just released for comment by the Arts Council of Wales (ACW). Although plugging gaps in the national arts infrastructure is also under consideration, with the development of the arts in Wrexham and Heads of the Valleys being particular priorities, ACW makes it clear that its new strategy will place “a greater priority on the refurbishment of existing facilities rather than new build schemes”. The potential revenue impact of any future capital projects will be assessed cautiously – a reaction to the over-optimism in the early days of the Lottery that capital projects would be either revenue neutral, or would help ‘gear up’ organisations to become more profitable. Other priorities in the draft strategy are capital investments designed to increase income and reduce costs; involvement in wider regeneration programmes; and public art projects, with all building-based projects expected to incorporate a public art strategy. ACW has yet to decide the level of Lottery funding that will be allocated to a new capital programme, but emphasises that “there will be no repeat of the high levels of funding seen in the early days of the Lottery, although we expect to see some modest growth over the coming years”. It is asking for responses to all elements of its strategy proposals: some specific questions are posed to respondents, but ACW also welcomes comments on other aspects of Lottery Capital funding. The deadline for responses is 31 August.
