In the third of our series profiling the shortlisted candidates for City of Culture 2025, Ian Bancroft reveals Wrexham as “one of the last punk places in the UK”.
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Welsh Culture Secretary tells Senedd that crumbling infrastructure and a lack of funds will not force National Museum Cardiff to close.
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Company says it has taken the 'difficult decision' to withdraw two weeks from its previously announced 2024/2025 season in the face of challenging economic times.
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A combination of redundancies and roles not being replaced will reduce the public body's staff by 13.
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As Museum Wales contends with a £4.5m deficit, it has introduced a rage of cost-saving measures, including the loss of at least 90 jobs.
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Proposed cuts would see performers paid less as a result of reduced working hours, with Musicians’ Union saying the situation is a 'direct result of underfunding and defunding of opera'.
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The Welsh Government has finalised its budget for 2024/25, confirming a 10.5% cut for Arts Council of Wales and the National Library.
Museum workers from the National Museum of Wales, the National Library of Wales, and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales protested outside the Senedd on Tuesday (27 February) as the budget was published.
Proposals to cut financing for National Museums of Wales by £3m and reduce support for local culture and sport by £1.9m have been maintained in the final budget.
The draft budget explained that because of “protections” afforded to employability and skills, the government had to “take the difficult decision” to reprioritise £16m of funding away from culture, sport and tourism, as well as £2m from Cadw, which works to protect historic buildings, landscapes and heritage sites in Wales.
Cadw and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales will benefit from an amendment to the final budget, with an additional £1.16m going to the former and £243,000 going to the latter.
Plaid Cymru Senedd Member Sioned Williams joined the protest along with her colleagues, writing on X: "The cuts to Wales’ museums and National Library will affect so many people – jobs will be put at risk, and the protection of our historical and cultural legacy will be threatened. I, and my [Plaid Cymru] colleagues stand with unions protesting these cuts."
Recent Welsh government budget cuts have created new fears across the creative sector about the impact on our communities, writes Graeme Farrow.
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Chief Executive of Arts Council of Wales, Dafydd Rhys, says the organisation has been forced to make "extremely difficult decisions” following a 10.5% budget cut from the Welsh government.
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17 music venues will share funding of over £700k to help improve facilities and make venues more accessible.
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Comments follow the Senedd's decision to reduce Arts Council Wales' annual funding by 10.5%.
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The introduction of admission fees at all national museum sites in Wales due to “critical” financial pressures has an “air of inevitability”, a government committee has heard.
Deputy Minister for Culture Dawn Bowden told the Senedd’s culture committee that ending free entry was being considered as a way to generate income in the face of budget constraints.
In December, the Welsh government revealed plans for a curtailed cultural budget, handing a £3m cut to the National Museums of Wales and a 10.5% drop in funding to Arts Council Wales, suggesting cultural bodies need to "explore other sources of income".
Speaking at the culture committee, Plaid Cymru’s Llŷr Gruffydd said there was an air of inevitability about the introduction of entry charges.
Bowden told ministers: “It is not something that we would be considering or asking the museum to look at and to consider if it were not in a critical situation.
“The budget situation was such that this was an option that had to be on the table.
“Now, I'm not saying that that's where we will end up, but it would not be responsible of me to rule that out at this stage or to suggest to the museum they shouldn't be exploring that.”
Organisations including Arts Council Wales, National Museums of Wales and Cadw are all facing reduced funding under the Welsh government's latest budget proposals.
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National Theatre Wales said it was “shocked and dismayed” at the ruling.
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Arts Council Wales will have to reconsider the company's funding application after an independent panel found it had not followed its own procedures "fairly and transparently"
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Wrexham Council will discuss establishing a charitable company to support a 2029 City of Culture bid following feedback on its 2025 bid.
The city lost out to Bradford for the 2025 title which had established a trust to lead the bid process throughout.
A report by Wrexham Council said the move would mean a “robust governance structure” would be in place for delivery which could support continued cultural and creative work in Wrexham after 2029.
The report added that, once legally established, the charitable trust would have a “close working relationship” with the local authority. It would also lead a public engagement exercise to update the community on the progress of the trust and the bid.
Report identifies 'growing pressure' to learn Welsh to work in the country's cultural sector, warning that it is 'potentially exclusionary'.
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Senior civil servants have defended their handling of an employment dispute that resulted in a payout of over £325k to the former Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales - and legal costs of £420k.
On 30 November, the Senedd’s Public Accounts Committee heard from Andrew Slade, the Welsh Government’s Director General for Economy, Skills and Natural Resources, who described the costs as reasonable, representing the “least-worst outcome” for taxpayers.
Asked whether the payment and fees provided value for money, Slade said that an employment tribunal would have taken about two years to resolve the issue, with the outcome potentially subject to appeal.
Labour MS Rhianon Passmore noted that a tribunal could have incurred significantly higher costs of £1.2m to £1.8m.
The payout followed a longstanding employment dispute between the museum’s former Director General, David Anderson, and former President Roger Lewis, in which Anderson brought grievances against Lewis for bullying and discriminatory treatment.
Under the terms of the settlement, Amgueddfa Cymru agreed to make Anderson, who stepped down in November last year, payments of more than £325k.
A further settlement of £12k went to the former Chief Operating Officer, who also bought a grievance against Lewis, with total legal fees estimated at £420k.
During the committee hearing, Passmore asked why mediation did not occur for eight months after concerns were first flagged in the spring of 2021 following Lewis’s annual review. Slade responded that the government did not have a process in place to deal with a breakdown of relations between senior museum leaders.
In October, an auditor responsible for overseeing public spending in Wales raised concerns that the settlement may not have complied with the requirements of charity law.
Amgueddfa Cymru said in a statement that while it respects the Auditor General’s opinion, “some of the evidence provided has not been reflected in the report” and that “as a result, we do not feel it a fair representation of the events that occurred or fully considers the complicated circumstances which [we] had to resolve.
An arts centre housing a Welsh language theatre company has opened in Bangor following a £4.5m redevelopment.
Located in a renovated Grade II listed church, Nyth includes rehearsal and performance spaces, an underground cellar studio and smaller creative spaces for artist residencies. It will be the base for the Welsh language participatory theatre company Frân Wen.
The project received an investment of £1.8m from the National Lottery, administered through Arts Council of Wales, £1.2m through Cyngor Gwynedd by Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns programme, £300,000 from the Coastal Communities Fund, £250,000 from the Community Facilities Programme, £200,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation, and £172,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Gethin Evans, Frân Wen's Artistic Director, said: "This space will be a hub for young people, artists and the wider community to come together, to connect, challenge, create and share through the arts.
"Supporting young people to reach their potential is what drives us, and giving them ownership over the development of the project has led to an inspiring building in terms of design and an ambitious and progressive program of creative activity for the future."
Maggie Russell, Cadeirydd Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru said: "It’s amazing to see new life injected into this old building, and great to know that Fran Wen, a cornerstone of Welsh theatre for almost four decades, is continuing to develop and inspire young people to participate in theatre.
"Nyth will undoubtedly be an asset to the creative economy of the north-west as it provides new opportunities for those who wish to tread the boards or work backstage in the world of the theatre.”
Mid Wales Opera has claimed that Arts Council Wales' latest funding round showed prejudice against conventional opera and classical music.
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