Arts leaders warn of ‘deleterious effects’ of ACE cuts to WNO

Arts leaders including both administrators and performers have published an open letter detailing their concern at the impact of Arts Council England’s (ACE) cuts on Welsh National Opera (WNO). The letter’s 19 signatories warn that the significant cut to WNO funding represented in ACE’s 2023-26 National Portfolio will cause a reduction in the WNO’s opera provision in both Wales and England.

The letter expresses concern about the dismantling of a ‘cross-border bargain’ between ACE and the Arts Council of Wales (ACW), which has until now benefitted audiences in both England and Wales. It also points out that the ‘transition funding’ offered by ACE to support WNO as it moves away from dependency on ACE funding would necessitate significant staffing cuts.

The letter argues that: ‘The proposed transition would involve reductions in the number of full-time members of the orchestra and chorus that will profoundly change the nature of the company as well as its capacity to deliver the education and community work that has benefitted so many young people and communities in Wales and in the English cities to which the company tours.’

Former WNO staff including Sir Richard Armstrong, Sir Brian McMaster and Sir David Pountney, are among the letter’s signatories alongside current and former staff of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and former members of the ACW. Opera singers Rebecca Evans, Gwyn Hughes Jones and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa have also signed alongside David Jackson, artistic director of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.

As well as calling on ACE to reverse cuts to WNO’s funding, the signatories also urge ACW and the Welsh Government ‘not to compound ACE’s error by any further injury to a company that has burnished Wales’s artistic reputation across the world for three-quarters of a century.’

You can read the full open letter below:

‘In the debate on arts funding in England little attention has been paid to the deleterious effects of ACE’s plans on a major provider to English provincial cities - an arts company of international repute that is based in Wales, Welsh National Opera. For many decades the funding of WNO has been shared between the two Arts Councils of Wales and England, an arrangement that has long been regarded as an invaluable cross-border bargain that benefits audiences in both countries.

‘It has allowed the creation of an opera company of a scale that Wales alone might struggle to sustain financially. At the same time, it has brought to seven English cities regular opera performances of international quality. The public may not be aware that until the Covid lockdown, a majority of WNO’s performances each year were given in England - in Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Birmingham and Liverpool. This cross-border bargain is now imperilled, disadvantaging both countries.

‘ACE’s plan to reduce WNO’s funding by 35% will not only sharply reduce WNO’s opera provision in England outside London, but will also threaten WNO’s service to Wales, at the very moment that ACW is undertaking its own strategic review. This is the reverse of levelling up.

‘Although ACE has offered WNO “transition funding”, the proposed transition would involve reductions in the number of full-time members of the orchestra and chorus that will profoundly change the nature of the company as well as its capacity to deliver the education and community work that has benefitted so many young people and communities in Wales and in the English cities to which the company tours.

‘Several of us have been involved in successive strategic reviews of the company’s operations, all of which involved both Arts Councils. In each of these exercises it has been concluded that maintaining a full-time chorus and orchestra is central to sustaining that quality. The current proposal to rely much more heavily on freelance players and singers – neither easy nor practical outside London - strikes at the very source of WNO’s high reputation.

‘In the wake of last week’s 40th anniversary of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World it is utterly perplexing to us that these plans should be under discussion at the very moment that ACE is embarking on a strategic review of opera and music theatre. Horses and carts come to mind. Moreover, we note that the proposed review refers only to England. We would urge ACE and ACW to work together on this review, to ensure its remit includes England and Wales, and for any reduction in WNO’s artistic core to be resisted while that review is undertaken. Arguably, this could merit an all-UK approach.

‘At the same time, we would urge ACW and the Welsh Government not to compound ACE’s error by any further injury to a company that has burnished Wales’s artistic reputation across the world for three-quarters of a century.’

The full list of signatories can be found below:

• Sir Richard Armstrong - music director, WNO, (1973-86)
• Dame Hilary Boulding - principal, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, (2007-2017)
• Matthew Epstein - senior artistic advisor, Sante Fe Opera; general director, WNO, (1991-94); artistic director, Lyric Opera of Chicago, (1999-2005)
• Rebecca Evans - Opera singer
• John Fisher - chief executive and artistic director, WNO, (2006-11); director of music administration, New York Metropolitan Opera, (1997-2006)
• Anthony Freud - general director, Lyric Opera of Chicago; general director, WNO, (1994-2005)
• Helena Gaunt - principal, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
• David Jackson - artistic director, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World
• Gwyn Hughes Jones - Opera singer
• Samantha Maskrey - former chair, Arts & Business Cymru
• Sir Brian McMaster - managing director, WNO, (1976-1991); director, Edinburgh International Festival, (1991-2006)
• Sir David Pountney - artistic director, WNO, (2011-19); director of productions, ENO, (1982-93)
• Matthew Prichard - honorary president, WNO and past chair, Arts Council of Wales (ACW)
• Tim Rhys-Evans - director of music, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
• Menna Richards - chair, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (2002-05); board member, WNO, (2010-2018)
• Geraint Talfan Davies - chair, ACW, (2003-06; Chair, WNO, (2006-16)
• Dame Kiri Te Kanawa - opera singer and patron, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World
• Lord Wigley of Caernarfon
• Llyr Williams - concert pianist