The Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the National Assembly’s Arts and Culture Review. The WJEC also welcomes the breadth of the Review in that it calls upon contributions from a wide range of statutory, voluntary and independent agencies in order to generate as comprehensive a view as possible of the Arts and Culture in Wales.
For the purposes of the Review, the WJEC response emanates from its Expressive Arts Unit, which has specific, strategic responsibilities in relation to the expressive arts. These are manifest in a range of services that:
support expressive arts activity within a broad educational context;
provide an overview of arts education in Wales;
provide an all-Wales education perspective at national arts fora in Wales and beyond;
support national arts initiatives which involve young people, namely National Youth Arts Wales (NYAW), which incorporates the National Youth Orchestra of Wales (NYOW), National Youth Theatre of Wales (NYTW) and National Youth Dance Wales (NYDW). NYAW also embraces the National Youth Brass Band of Wales (NYBBW) and the National Youth Choir of Wales (NYCW), which are managed by the Welsh Amateur Music Federation (WAMF).
National Youth Arts Wales (NYAW) Mission Statement
NYAW encourages, supports and promotes national performing arts opportunities with and by young people, through local, regional and national partnerships.
In support of its Mission Statement, NYAW:
provides a national voice for young people who choose the performing arts as part of their personal and artistic growth;
encourages greater participation in youth arts activity of the highest standards at national level;
advocates and promotes national youth arts activity in a co-ordinated fashion, making it more visible and more accessible to young people;
offers an inclusive framework, incorporating local, regional and national provision, within which networks of youth arts activity in Wales can be supported;
re-affirms and celebrates the contribution and importance of national youth arts to the artistic and cultural life of Wales;
promotes national youth arts activity from Wales as a major advocate and ambassador for young people, the Arts and Wales, both within the UK and internationally.
In pursuit of its aims, NYAW embraces:
partnerships;
training programmes;
performance opportunities;
networking services;
advocacy, publicity and marketing campaigns.
QUESTIONS
1. Other than providing additional funding, what do you feel the Assembly can/should offer the arts in Wales and how could the Assembly develop its own definitive Arts and Cultural Policy?
The National Assembly’s continuing interest in the Arts and Culture of Wales is vital. Importantly, this interest must be sustained and developed in order to establish a clear signal that the arts and culture are important contributors to the social, economic and educational well being of the Nation. Other than providing additional funding, the Assembly should afford a status to the Arts and Culture that merits consideration at the highest level(s). The appointment of an Assembly Secretary for Arts and Culture, who can speak with authority to and on behalf of the Assembly, would elevate debate and ensure that a greater awareness and understanding of the actual and potential value of the arts and culture is promoted.
In developing an Arts and Cultural Policy that has relevance to the many, diverse communities of Wales, the Assembly must establish a mechanism wherein these communities can have a voice. The very open and transparent manner in which the Review is taking place could serve as a model for future involvement by the people of Wales, either directly or via the range of umbrella bodies and representative groups that exist to support the arts, artists, participants and audiences.
The WJEC joins with other respondents to suggest that the current consultation process serve as a starting-point from which to involve the people of Wales in the formulation of policies and the creation, maintenance and development of provision that is meaningful, relevant, needed and wanted. The momentum generated by the review process should not be lost or undermined.
2. What should be the principal objectives of an arts and cultural policy for Wales?
An Arts and Cultural Policy for Wales should reflect the key strands of creation, making, participation and audience development. These strands are not mutually exclusive, nor should they be rooted in a divisive structure that separates professional from community, community from voluntary or Art-form Development from Access and Participation. An effective Arts and Cultural Policy must recognise that each strand, and each context within which it is located, is reliant upon the others. Our arts ecology is multi-faceted and all sectors should be encouraged to co-exist and flourish. Each has an important part to play; the absence of any would impoverish the whole.
Quality should be a principal objective.
3. Should the priority of such a policy be based upon the arts in Wales or on Welsh arts?
A healthy balance between the two should be encouraged.
The arts in Wales should encompass local, national (Wales and UK) and international arts, with communities in Wales having access to high-quality and varied arts experiences (whether as creators, participants or audiences).
It could be interpreted that art created in Wales is Welsh Art. Opportunities to promote this work within Wales, the wider UK and internationally should be exploited. The arts, and artists from Wales, are fine ambassadors and demonstrate the quality, diversity and vibrancy that co-exist within the traditional, contemporary and popular cultures of Wales.
4. Given a "clean sheet", how would you suggest the Assembly structures its funding and management/development of the arts in Wales?
Whether as a formal department of The Assembly (with paid officers/employees), or as an independent body, there will need to be a clearly identifiable route for the management and administration of arts policies and grant distribution. Whether all of these functions (management, administration, grant-distribution) are invested in the one body in future warrants further consideration.
Accountability and transparency, coupled with information-exchange and consultation, are key components of a healthy partnership between the arts communities and a governing or managing body.
Importantly, the amount of bureaucracy should be kept to a necessary minimum.
5. In your experience, how open and accessible do you feel the Arts Council of Wales is and have they been prepared to listen to your views and take on board your ideas? Using the Drama Strategy as an example, do you feel the consultation exercise was well managed or were there things which could have been done differently?
The WJEC has had a very constructive and positive association with the Arts Council of Wales. Officers have sought advice from the WJEC, listened to the WJEC’s views and, on occasion, acted upon the guidance offered.
The production of the ACW Drama Strategy has been problematic on a number of counts, not least in that it was not particularly strategic in terms of the overall needs of the arts in Wales (cf. Question 2, above).
If the production of the Drama Strategy has triggered the current Review, then it has served a constructive purpose. No doubt, the Council itself will have to react to the strength of feeling and comments arising from the publication of the Strategy, and attempts to implement it.
6. Do you feel the Council’s structure and organisation is appropriate to enable it to develop national arts strategies and to manage the distribution of Assembly funding?
In that Wales now has an Assembly, a new context within which it can determine its own artistic and cultural identity, it could be considered timely to review the Council’s structure, organisation and strategic importance.
The fact that relations between ACW and some sectors of the arts community appear to have reached an all-time low suggests that confidence, trust and more-effective communications need to be rebuilt.
There is a view that the interface between the Council, its officers, and actual arts activity and individual artists is not close enough. The increased burden of bureaucracy upon ACW officers in recent years has severely constrained their ability to see\ hear\ experience what is happening at the grassroots. This is possibly symptomatic of too many demands\functions being invested in the one body. Again, further consideration of the separation of some of these functions is warranted.
7. In your view, how well have the arts been supported across all regions of Wales, particularly in promoting the medium of the Welsh language?
It is no easy task to ensure that all regions of Wales receive an absolute fair share of the resources available. Geography, population, economics, language – each makes different demands of a finite resource. That said, it is vital that support structures are in place to facilitate an equitable spread of opportunity across Wales, in Welsh and English.
The local authorities in Wales have been key supporters and providers of local arts and cultural opportunities, and are an important element in the infrastructure that supports arts policies and provision across Wales.
The WJEC is of the view that increasing attention and resources are being invested in those areas that have been under-represented in the past (geographic and linguistic); certainly, the recent lottery award to NYAW allows for greater activity in these areas.
8. Do you agree with the principle of "funding fewer better" i.e. concentrating resources on a lesser number of organisations with a view to significantly improving the quality of productions?
It is felt that "funding fewer better" is not a useful starting point; it has been used in the past as a pragmatic response to the availability of limited and, in some cases, reduced resources. Any progress emanating from this Review should stake a claim for "funding more better".
9. Which body/bodies should play a key role in the management and distribution of European funding for the arts?
The National Assembly, the local authorities and other agencies that have a clear mandate for and experience in European Programmes.
10. What more can Wales Arts International, or others, do in promoting Wales’ creative industries abroad?
There exists too little inter-agency co-operation in this regard. Greater awareness and understanding of the opportunities and potential that exist for the creative industries abroad need to be engendered.
11. How do you feel the arts can contribute to tackling social exclusion in Wales and what barriers presently exist which hinder progress?
The WJEC advocates that the arts can be a powerful vehicle through which individuals can gain personal and inter-personal skills. The arts have the potential to support individuals who are socially excluded to develop a sense of belonging, worth and community.
12. What support should the Assembly be providing to sustain or increase the viability and income of the creative industries in Wales?
In addition to financial support, the creative industries need the support of the Assembly to ensure that their achievements are publicly acknowledged and celebrated as part of the economic vibrancy and optimism of Wales. The elevated status and visibility of the arts in the political debates of the Assembly would do much to recognise the contribution and validity of the arts to the health and well being of the Nation. The Assembly could identify and/or provide opportunities for the arts to make an integral contribution to local, national and international developments.
Theme Ranking
The themes are inter-related. As in the WJEC’s answer to your question 2, each of these six themes is actually reliant upon the existence of the other five and to separate them would be to their collective disadvantage.
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