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PAG is the national association of arts centres and presenters in Wales. PAG members work with a mix of artforms including craft, film, dance, music, visual arts and, most significantly, drama. PAG has considered the Arts Council of Wales 1999 Drama strategy in the context of the draft ACW Corporate Plan for 1999-2002. 1) PAG is not in a position to adjudicate as to who should or should not receive public funding. Nor will PAG comment on the relative merits of different art forms. Strategic planning 2) The document as presented is an explanation of a series of grant decisions, not a strategy. In the past year the Arts Council has made priorities of development in the South Wales Valleys, Equal Opportunities, Young People ("one of the major cultural policy issues in Wales for the next decade" The Arts And Young People In Wales, page 17) and the co-ordination of Lottery and grant-in-aid funding streams. This document fails to address each of these issues. 3) The most important funding opportunity of the next decade will arise from Objective One status for Wales; this will bring millions of pounds of European money into some of the poorest areas of Wales. This European support for economic development and regional regeneration recognises the important role cultural activity has in a modern economy. 4) The Arts Council’s Corporate Strategy acknowledges Objective One and the Arts Council has made a priority of developing the cultural element within the Objective One plan. Match funding and "strategic fit" are two key elements for the successful exploitation of Objective One. Nothing in this Drama strategy acknowledges or works with the priorities relevant to Objective One. 5) PAG in considering theatre development has to ask how any strategy fits in with plans for other artforms. From a venue manager’s perspective, trying to serve their local audience, a sharp decline in touring drama might be acceptable if dance or music touring was to increase. There is no such frame of reference. 6) PAG has stated before (Western Mail December 1998) that there is a pressing need for strategies to be made to work together. The Drama strategy exists in isolation and as such exposes weaknesses in current thinking. Touring 7) PAG has made numerous representations on the issue of touring since the association was first established. The venues in Wales want a performing arts strategy to put work in front of their audiences. The issue has been on the agenda over a number of years. 8) For audiences across Wales promises of touring are not enough. Touring is difficult and costly. The geography of Wales is difficult. We have suggested, through proposals for the establishment of a National Touring Agency, a different approach which actively manages touring development through partnerships between venues and artists. We are very disappointed to see a strategy for drama that neglects the difficult issues of touring and that suggests that prescription will solve the problems. Prescription will not solve the problems. Project funding 9) We are very concerned that "project funding" is proposed as the solution to so many problems in the development of drama in Wales. Project funding guarantees nothing for the venues. Nor does it guarantee anything for the artists. Many projects have had a noticeably precarious existence. Talented artists are leaving Wales. 10) Apart from the problem of making art, artists face the problems of production management, administration, touring management, marketing. When they only have access to project funds, funds which cover just a few weeks or months in the year, then artists in Wales are condemned to repeatedly reinvent the wheel. It is venues and audiences which suffer. Venue choice 11) Venues across Wales would like more choice; the proposals reduce choice. Audiences 12) Audience development is vital. In England audience development has been made a national priority by the Arts Council of England and numerous imaginative and enterprising projects have been supported. This is not the case in Wales. 13) The Arts Council of Wales Corporate Plan sets targets for attendance but does not explain how these will be achieved. The Drama paper - where we might expect an explanation - avoids the question of attendance. Summary 14) The Arts Council has stated that its policy is to "develop an arts infrastructure which serves the whole of Wales". 15) The Drama document is not sufficiently explicit in committing funded producers to tour enough product, both in terms of quantity and quality. Without such a commitment, benefits from the funded producers will not extend beyond their local area. It is noted that the need for touring product will increase with the proposed new Newport Theatre and Arts Centre, the Wales Millennium Centre, the refurbished Aberystwyth Arts Centre. The increase in funding proposed to the producers is not particularly large, so doubts must exist as to whether they can afford to tour on the scale alluded to. |
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Thursday, March 4, 1999 |
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