As anyone who follows Welsh politics will know, the Welsh government will soon be facing massive budget cuts – the kind that have not happened since the Assembly was established in 1999. Until now, all parts of Welsh public life have benefited from the certainty that next year’s budget always goes up.
But no longer. The most vulnerable part of the budget is probably the Heritage department, and I would not be surprised if the government is already looking at what savings can be made here.
What worries me most is that there is an overwhelming sense of cultural insularity and a complete lack of cultural ambition within Welsh political circles – and when the financial axe inevitably falls, I fear that it will fall on the wrong targets.
A short while ago, Plaid Cymru MP, Adam Price launched an attack on Welsh National Opera for not being Welsh enough, citing its lack of Welsh commissions and the failure of the company to ever appoint a Welsh musical director as examples of this supposed wrong-doing.
Why does Welsh National Opera need to prove its Welsh credentials? It is an opera company, first and foremost. If it has a role as a commissioning body, then works should be commissioned from composers with the talent and vision that satisfies whatever project is in mind. The nationality of that person is irrelevant, likewise, its musical director.
You may be interested to know that the present musical director of the New York Met is American – its first American-born artistic leader since its formation in 1880 – and guess what? With that approach, you end up with Mahler and Toscanini as resident conductors, and one of the finest opera companies in the world. OK, that’s New York not Cardiff, but you see my point: any cultural institution worth its salt should only be concerned with artistic integrity, not nationalistic flag-waving.
If artistic integrity is what it’s all about, then the Welsh government’s funding for the film ‘Hunger’ released last autumn, was certainly something to be applauded.
Tory MP for Monmouth, David Davies, didn’t think so. Davies slammed the government for having the audacity to provide funding for the film, which is about the IRA prisoners’ hunger strike during the 1980s, and depending on who you talk to, may or may not be sympathetic to the IRA. More importantly, however, is the fact that the film is a challenging, thought-provoking, well made, critically-acclaimed film by a talented director – in short, exactly the sort of thing we should be proud to support. (Also, in an uncharacteristically sensible move, the funding was given on the proviso that post-production work was carried out in Wales – so was good for business too.)
Though neither Adam Price nor David Davies has a direct say on how Welsh money is spent, their opinions – unfortunately – carry weight, and are heard in all the right places. Davies’ views are representative of that section of Welsh political life for whom funding of the arts is seen as a frivolous waste of public money at the best of times – let alone when money’s tight. This spectacularly reactionary way of thinking says that cultural funding is fine as long as it doesn’t cause offence. In times of financial pressure, I worry that many inside the Welsh government will start to take this view as well. After all, who wants to have to defend the claim that you’re supporting the IRA while closing hospitals?
Adam Price’s views on the WNO represent the alarmingly protective and parochial view of the world shared by many in Plaid Cymru. This equally reactionary way of thinking says that if something is not for, of, or about Wales, then it is intrinsically bad. Worryingly, Plaid is in charge of the Heritage department, and Price is an influential man within the party.
The pessimist in me can see the cultural regressives winning. The evidence is already there in the way the government has acted in the last few months. For example, the National Eisteddfod received a £100,000 bonus because it’s taking place in the middle of nowhere. This is despite the fact that the festival generated a surplus last year, while other, perhaps more ambitious festivals still hang together by a thread.
The government needs to guarantee two things in my opinion. Firstly that artistic ideology is left to the Arts Council for Wales and the other organisations responsible for assessing the quality of projects to support. And secondly, that cuts are not administered on a blanket basis, but are delivered in a more creative manner.
On the first issue, the purpose of having an Arts Council is to avoid a situation where politicians directly make decisions about the arts. As a rule, politicians know little about the subject, but know much about its potential to manipulate the population. At its extreme, political interference in the arts could result in the Heritage Minister becoming a dangerous propagandist, but given the limitations on Welsh political power, is more likely to result in the Minister becoming simply a patron of populist trite. If we want Welsh cultural life to be independent, relevant and progressive, then this arms-length distance must be maintained at all costs.
The second issue concerns the broader levels of funding, i.e. how much should be given to the different umbrella organisations, rather than how much should be given to individual projects. Before the government considers any general cuts – say, 10% off everything in the department – it has to ensure that all other, more imaginative solutions have been tried.
For example, how about a cut in funding to all organisations that have made a surplus in the last couple of years? How about making sure the Eisteddfod only takes place in large towns for the next few years, so that it can generate more income? How about temporarily reversing the policy of free entry to museums, galleries and Cadw sites? None of these measures needs to be permanent, but I think they might be necessary if we are to preserve a vibrant cultural scene over the next few years.
However, the combination of insufficient cash, timid government, and knee-jerk public reaction will, I am afraid, probably result in an arid landscape for Welsh arts. Far from being the ‘forward-thinking’ little nation that we would like it to be, Wales will forever be defined by male voice choirs and traditional Welsh costume.
This, after all, is why the department responsible for all of this is known as the Department for Heritage (‘something that is passed down from preceding generations’) rather than the Department for Culture (‘intellectual and artistic activity’)
And that, I think, says all you need to know.
Updated January 21st 2010: This post was winner of the Welsh Politico Awards 2009 silver award for best blog post of the year.
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Nice to know what Lib Dems think of places in Wales that happen not to be in the South – Eisteddfods are held in “the middle of nowhere”, eh? I thought those ‘middles of nowhere’ were just normal towns and cities that had every right to host festivals and enjoy culture. But apparently not….
What an extraordinarily ignorant and snobbish post – a pathetic piece of barely -concealed anti-Welsh blather, along with some tribalist party point scoring, masquerading as serious discussion about arts and arts funding in Wales.
You guys will have to do better than that.
This is not an official Welsh Liberal Democrat site. All the views expressed here are those of the individual posters.
Either that or Bala really is in the middle of nowhere………..? I mean its nearest major town is Llandudno? Wrexham? Caernarfon? All over 40 miles away…… And with a population of nearly 2000 people it hardly classes as a city or a town in its own right. According to Wikipedia is “It is little more than one wide street”. I’m sure the 2000 people who live in Bala enjoyed their culture and festival, but when talking about opening up the Welsh Language to all, holding it in the middle of nowhere, then having to throw money at it really doesn’t help, especially in such tough economic times
That’ll be by why more people went to Bala’s eisteddfod than Cardiff’s then will it, Rachel? Nice to see you come to this question with an open and in full possession of all the facts…
I went to the Bala Eisteddfod. I didn’t go to Cardiff.
I live in Cheshire.
Not sure what this proves, if anything, but hardly that Bala is the middle of nowhere ….
I might also mention (not least because a certain colleague of mine might kill me if I didn’t) that Morgan Parry’s IWA Eisteddfod lecture predicts that the Eisteddfod might have to have a permanent site in a more populated area on ecological grounds…
The “middle of nowhere” comment was a little careless (Bala has quite a significant cultural heritage that’s often overlooked) but other than that it’s a damn good article!
Although I notice you seem to have bought the economic arguement with regard to arts funding ie that it should be profitable!
“The middle of nowhere” like Rachael said, applied to its geographic isolation – not cultiural isolation. I made no reference to its contribution to culture.
The fact that the Eisteddfod is taking place in Bala meant that the government had to fork out an additional £100,000. Of course I want to see events happening all over the country (large cities and small towns), but I was trying to offer a serious and constructive solution to the pending funding crisis which said for the next couple of years let”s think about holding the festival in larger towns until the funding picks up again. I would much rather that, than have to trim back the festival in other ways.
I make no apologies for party point-scoring because I genuinely feel that the conservatives would cut back significanmtly on all cultural funding, and that Plaid would limit it to pet nationalis projects.
That does not make me anti-Welsh. It simply means that my vision for the arts in Wales stretches beyond the ‘nationalist’. I want to see a vibrant and relevant cultural scene in Wales, and instinctively, I feel uncomfortable about the arts being used as political tools.
So Jeremy Townsend feels uncomfortable about the arts being used as political tools? Would that include the British Council which suck ups £200 million of public subsidy?
My theme for a Welsh opera is one based on the introduction of a highly subsidised North South air link to make sure a Plaid Deputy First Minister can get home intime for tea whilst the rest of the people can struggle up or down the A470! I’d like it to be called “Gone with the Windbag”.
Hendre, quite possibly – though I confess that I know little about what the British Council does….
If Jeremy Townsend is a model Liberal Democrat, avoid his party like the plague. His comments are a cocktail of ignorance and arrogance and reflect an extraordinary lack of knowledge of the cultural scene in Wales. Bala would probably be top of the poll if voting took place for a permament site for the festival, it being so centrally situated and in an area where Welsh culture is at its strongest. Back of beyond indeed!
Elfyn, as I said above, I was referring to geographic isolation – not cultural isolation.
Bala may be an area where Welsh culture is at its strongest – I did not question that for a moment.
Bala got the extra money due to the difficulty of fundraising from such a small population (nothing to due with the location itself being remote).
Ebbw Vale is also getting an extra (possibly even bigger) subisdy, due the difficulty of fundraising from such a poor population. The implication of your suggestion (if thought through) is that the Eisteddfod would only go to places with a large-enough middle class to raise all the funds.
The are only two “large towns” in mid or north Wales – Wrexham (2011 venue) and the Deeside conurbation (2007 north Wales venue). That only leaves south Wales venues, and I’d venture to say that only Cardiff could raise a large amount of local money on a regular basis (large number of middle class speakers).
Brecon Jazz would also raise money if moved to, say, Cardiff.
I think that what Jeremy was getting at was that if we adopted the fixed sites solution being touted by many for the Eisteddfod then it may not cost so much to put on. He may be wrong on that but it is worth exploring.
Honestly, it hadn’t occurred to me to have a fixed site. I was still advocating multiple sites, but – and I will repeat this – for the SHORT TERM have them in urban centres.
Just because Wrexham and the Deeside conurbation have alreday had or are about to have a go, does that mean they can’t again? It’s not the way it works at the moment, but I was suggesting a temporary change in the way things have operated. It doesn’t mean it has to go to the south.
Perhaps it wouldn’t work, but I wuold prefer it if people offered arguments as to why it wouldn’t work, rather than shutting down the debate because it is deemed to be anti-Welsh. That is not helpful to anyone.
Perhaps if Ebbw Vale requires additional funding, this should come from the Economy department rather than the culture department, as part of a wider regeneration and economic development strategy? It needn’t come at the expense of other events.
The Eisteddfod can’t go back to Wrexham/Deeside so soon because of fundraising issues. Every year, the local organising committee are set a quota to raise funds towards the cost of hosting the event. People put on lots of events such as concerts, gigs and jumble sales, and you can’t keep going back to the same people too often.
The Ebbw Vale money is coming from the Heads of the Valleys programme.
As regards the reaction to your article – what do you expect when you used the terms such as “cultural regressives”, “[un]challenging” and refered to the best venue in many years as “the middle of nowhere”. The Eisteddfod is about so much more than male voice choirs and national costume. Perhaps people resent sounding off from someone who needs to find out more about the subject first. Back to the question of arts funding – I can’t believe you didn’t mention the Wales Millennium Centre.
Damn – Montenegro have just scored!
All one needs to know about Townsend’s views are contained in phrases like ‘middle of nowhere’, ‘culturally regressive’, etc. They bespeak assumptions that are hugely arrogant and contain a good deal of pseudo-metropolitan snobbery. I don’t think one would be over-reading them either to see them as anti-Welsh, in basis if not overt statement, and what’s most telling is the clearly anti-Welsh underbelly of many of the comments they’ve engendered. And that’s just the ones the moderators have let through (when they’re not busy blocking Adam Price’s!
Adam Price has not left any comments on this post so your assertion that they have been blocked is untrue. I have rejected two comments. One used a single swear word to describe the author and the other contained a link to Adam Price’s blog and no other content. If it had included a comment I would have let it through but we are not in the process of promoting other blogs for the sake of it.
Patrick, Freedom Central does not censor any comments – unless they are personally abusive.
We did block one such comment which described me using unnecessary, let’s say, ‘post-watershed’ language… given that Adam Price is one of the few people making an informed and reasoned contribution to the debate (over on his own blog), I somehow doubt that was his post…
Oh, we block spam too. I know Adam Price and I don’t agree, but I don’t think he’s spamming us in revenge!
for the record i have left 20 comments or so on plaid blog guerilla welsh fare under my surname ‘senn’ and all have been blocked!
Mr. Macguiness get real buddy, cannot Jeremy express himself? without being called anti-welsh….what would you do , censor the whole damn thing?