Arts Council of Wales Funding
I asked one of Wales best known and loved artists what he thought of The Arts Council. He said ‘They are cunts’. Another active performer and practitioner is similarly minded, stating that the Arts Council fund the big institutions but ignores working artists, quality of work, and damages the marketplace for independents to flourish and grow.
In the tax year 20/21 The Arts Council Of Wales awarded £765,000 in grant funding to Chapter Cardiff Ltd, and that when Chapter was closed and sacked it’s staff due to the ‘pandemic’. Chapter relies on volunteers and interns to staff the overblown and damaging to the arts in Cardiff arts centre. That of the back of £1,000,000 the previous year…
In the pandemic year, when they closed their doors to the arts community, Elysium Gallery in Swansea received £95,000 in grant funding from The Arts Council. g39 in Cardiff received £100,000 for the same period, which followed a whopping £230,000 the previous financial year.
The middle-class Hay Festival of Literature received £35,000 in the pandemic year whilst in the year 2019/20 they received £102,000 whilst the average ticket price at the festival, for a single hour-long workshop or lecture is £12…
I can’t find the funding for Cirw Celf, the arts organisation that is happy to provide life drawing classes for well-healed students at a minimum cost to the taxpayer of £100pp for two hours of sketching or indeed of the start-up NoNaffArt that ran ongoing sessions with zero attendees and so I believe that there may well be more to add to those I’ve already detailed as examples of the profligacy and market damage that these grant funding decisions are and cause.
I mention these grant decisions as I have reached the end of the road regarding my complaints with the Arts Council, of which there are two key points, knowledge of the arts in Wales and impact assessments prior to awarding grants. On both of these issues, The Arts Council have said NO. No, they do not carry out impact assessments and no they have no interest in knowing what art provision exists in Wales. See my letter to the relevant ministers on this matter:
Drawing a line under these complaints the Chief Executive has written me a two-page letter of waffle, not addressing my particular concerns. And, I believe, that is it. The Arts Council of Wales will continue to fund Chapter in the region of millions despite its appalling employment practice, will continue to fund start-ups that impact my business despite them having no proven track record and will continue to bury their head in the sand and effectively deny that any independent arts provision in Wales exists.
I agree with the great and prolific artist I quoted at the start of this post. They really are CUNTS.
Here is the final response from the Chief Executive but first my response:
‘A truly appalling response that says nothing new and is just corporate copy-pasted waffle leaving my questions STILL unanswered.
It is therefore apparent that The Arts Council of Wales do not want to know what art provision exists in Wales and could therefore not undertake an impact assessment prior to issuing a grant even if desired, which it is clear is not.
I, therefore, give the Arts Council for Wales notice that I will seek reparations in Cardiff Courts for any loss of income derived from future funding of groups, startups or organisations that impact my provision of Life Drawing and associated art projects including art walks, community classes and life model provision across South Wales from Newport to Carmarthen and north to the Brecon Beacons National Park.’
From Dafydd Ress, Cheif Exec:
‘Dear Andrew Lamb Re Complaint received 20 December 2022 Thank you for the above email. I have considered the matters raised under the terms of our Complaints Policy. In reaching my conclusions I have reviewed the correspondence between yourself and Officers of the Arts Council during the time period in question. Officers including the Director of Operations have received a number of emails from yourself over the period, regarding the points in question, and have also held telephone and in person conversations with you to address your concerns and resolve this matter. However, at no time is there evidence that these communications have been ‘heated’ on our part. Records show that Officers have been professional in their communication throughout. Whilst you highlight that you have been in these discussions since 2019, I note there have also been significant periods of time between the emails received from yourself during this period. We have also responded on the specific points you have raised. In our correspondence there is evidence of Officers confirming to you your points of concern as they are understood and responding directly to these, including, for example, specific reference to Criw Celf, your request that we create a directory of arts providers and impact assessments. In addition to information provided by Louise Wright, Portfolio Manager, you have met and received detailed responses to your email regarding these specific points from Richard Nicholls, Director of Operations. This is evidenced by its inclusion in your most recent communication. The Arts Council of Wales is a public body and registered charity and is obligated to act and set policy within these specific frameworks. We ensure that the policies and strategies that we develop meet these requirements and promote the Arts Council’s overall priorities. These include Equalities, Welsh Language, and the 7 Well-being goals of the Future Generations Act. Through our publications we evidence our own desire to promote equalities, widen our engagement, develop opportunities for more people to access and participate in the arts and benefit from our funding, and create a more level playing field for all. This is evidenced, for example in the context outlined in our recently published Investment Review Guidance. This document sets the framework for our longer-term strategy, that will be published early in the new financial year. Application for funding is, itself, a competitive process, however it is not the intention of the Arts Council of Wales, through its policy or activity, to cause any practitioner to feel their livelihood may be threatened by creative activity that has been supported through public funding. Through our Lottery Programmes we offer organisations and individual artists and creative practitioners the opportunity to develop their existing practices, offering economic resilience, sustainability, development of new ways of working, and reaching and engaging with new audiences and participants. This may be in collaboration with other partners, for example through our Connect and Flourish programme, or individual support for example through our Create fund, that also offers business development opportunities for applicants to seek funding to further develop. Whilst our Investment Review supports organisations, we have a comprehensive Lottery Funding programme for specific project activity that is open to organisations and individual creative practitioners. As my colleagues have previously highlighted, you are equally in a position to apply for specific project funding yourself, should you feel you and your proposal meet our published Guidance. My conclusions, therefore, are: • As you have correctly identified, the points you raise are a matter of policy, and, therefore have been considered under our published Complaints Policy on this basis. • in our responses to yourself, and as evidenced in the inclusion of our previous response in your latest email, we have provided detail on the basis on which we award projects, how we evaluate funded work and the reason why we could not create and manage the directory you seek. I will share a copy of your email together with my response to our Chair of Council as you request and Welsh Government colleagues, who I understand, you have also been in recent correspondence with. Yours sincerely Dafydd Rhys Chief Executive.’
