The Centre for Performance Research (CPR) in Aberystwyth and Celf o Gwmpas in Powys have declared themselves to be victims of the recent revenue funding cuts announced by Arts Council Wales (ACW). St Donat’s Arts Centre has already gone public on its loss of funding, and has begun a campaign to rescue the centre and its international storytelling festival, ‘Beyond the Border’. All three organisations are contesting the grounds on which ACW has made its decision. Jane Cooke, Director of Celf o Gwmpas, said that the cut was based on information which was “factually wrong”. The organisation focuses on using the arts to reduce the social exclusion of people with learning disabilities in Powys. ACW has said that Celf o Gwmpas is duplicating the work of Arts Connection and CARAD. Jane Cooke points out that “all three are distinct organisations catering to different groups of people and different geographic areas”, and adds that ACW “has not fully appreciated the detail of the work that Celf o Gwmpas uniquely provides”.
CPR, which has just announced its programme for the 10th International Giving Voice Festival, has called the news of its cut “quite shattering”. Executive Director Judie Christie and Artistic Director Richard Gough say that ACW “is offering CPR the opportunity to compete for project funding on an occasional basis without acknowledging that the lack of ACW revenue support could compromise CPR’s relationship and partnership funding with Aberystwyth University”. As recently as last year, ACW’s Director of Arts called CPR “a vital and prestigious player in the arts in Wales”. Christie and Gough also point out that CPR has a role to play in providing ”innovation, an international perspective and a rigorous training policy” for the English-language National Theatre for Wales which ACW intends to establish. All three organisations have opened petitions or made requests for letters of support from the public and collaborators in Wales and beyond.
• Correction: In AP163 we reported that “£750,000 has been earmarked by [ACW] to develop Wales’s presence at the 2009 Venice Biennale”. In fact the figure is £125,000. We apologise for this error.