Arts Council Wales announces outcome of 2023 Investment Review

Arts Council of Wales (ACW) has today revealed the 81 creative organisations which will be offered multi-year funding totalling £29.6m as part of its 2023 Investment Review. While this round of funding sees 23 organisations receive funding for the first time, organisations including Mid Wales Opera and National Theatre Wales which were previously part of the Arts Portfolio Wales (APW) have not been offered funding.

ACW has confirmed that, while funding has generally increased across the arts, opera has experienced a £607,308 decrease in funding in this latest round. Previous APW organisations will now have six months to apply for Transition Support worth up to a quarter of their original APW 2023/24 sum in addition to their remaining funding.

In a statement released today, Mid Wales Opera chair Gareth Williams said: 'We are deeply disappointed and indeed shocked at the news that – after 35 years of staging remarkable opera across the length and breadth of Wales – the Arts Council has decided not to offer us multi-annual funding. Obviously, we will be considering our next steps over the coming weeks. This will, however, be a hammer blow for the young artists who gain invaluable career development opportunities from working with us, as well as to audiences in towns and rural communities who have few, if any opportunities to experience live opera.’

Submissions for the 2023 Investment Review were invited earlier this year in response to ACW’s six principles: ‘creativity, widening engagement, Welsh language, climate justice, nurturing talent and transformation’. ACW described the Review as a ‘highly competitive process’ and noted that it attracted a record number of applications, with submissions received from 139 eligible organisations.

Music organisations which have been successful in applying for multi-year funding as part of the 2023 Investment Review include:

• Sinfonia Cymru
• Live Music Now Wales
• Tŷ Cerdd Wales
• Wales Millennium Centre
• Welsh National Opera
• Music Theatre Wales
• National Youth Arts Wales
• Operasonic
• PYST Label

Current multi-year funding offers are conditional and entirely dependent on ACW’s funding settlement from the Welsh Government. Offers for 2024/25 will be confirmed when the 2024/25 budget is confirmed by the Welsh Government.

ACW chief executive Dafydd Rhys described this round of decisions as ‘a very positive shift for the arts in Wales’ but acknowledged that: ‘The decision not to continue funding for some organisations will no doubt be much debated, which is something we welcome – however our Strategic Interventions will respond to any gaps created in relevant sectors as a result of our decisions.’

ACW's ‘strategic interventions’ aim to provide additional support to under-served areas or artforms. In relation to the music sector, these are set to include: a review of ACW’s ‘support for traditional music’ and the continuation of ACW’s partnerships to ‘support underfunded genres of music and creators’. More broadly, interventions will also tackle the commissioning of research to help the sector in Wales cope with climate change, the development of networks to ‘provide peer support and mentoring around widening engagement’ and the development of ‘relationships with local authorities to see how we can work together to ensure the best arts for everyone’.