Show latest news, more from December 2004.
Arts Council of Wales gutted in “Quango Bonfire”
The Arts Council of Wales has been – not destroyed, as promised – but severely reduced as part of the Assembly’s push against Quangos, or Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations. The Council will continue to exist in its capacity as a giver of individual grants, but many of its other responsibilities will be carried out by the Welsh Assembly and a yet-to-be-established Culture Board. The move – which is part of a much broader push against “arm’s-length” public bodies – has been condemned by many and welcomed by few, though reception has been generally quite mixed. Commentators and practitioners within and outside the arts have recognised the need to minimise what had become a truly gargantuan bureaucracy, but the continued existence of the Council has had a very muted response. First Minister Rhodri Morgan originally proposed to do away with the council – along with sixteen others – but found the Assembly’s powers did not in fact extend that far. Instead, six big artistic companies that had previously been funded by the Arts Council will now be funded directly by the Assembly Government. The companies involved - Welsh National Opera, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, literary body Welsh Academi, dance group Diversions, Clwyd Theatr Cymru and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru - make up roughly £8.2m of the Arts Council's £23.5m grants budget. The remainder is lottery funding. Some policy-making staff from the Council will be joining the Assembly government, which will henceforth become the defining policy body for the arts. The Minister for Culture, Alan Pugh will chair the new Culture Board, an advisory body comprising senior members of the Arts Council and other cultural bodies. Says Morgan: ‘You can justify the existence of arm's-length bodies in government, but there is no such thing as arm's-length public money. Ministers are always responsible for its allocation and the Assembly is always responsible for its scrutiny. There is no dodging that responsibility.’ To read the Council’s response to the changes, CLICK HERE.
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