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I have not previously had the opportunity to comment on the emerging ACW proposals for Theatre in Education and for Young People, but wish to register my concern at the possible impact on Gwent TIE in particular My Council has supported Gwent Theatre since it (the Council) was established in 1996 and has maintained revenue support despite financial cutbacks to the Council's services. We also support a Blaenau Gwent based young people's group - Action, so our commitment to supporting Theatre for performance to and performance by young people cannot be challenged Regrettably a number of other Councils have failed to match our commitment , causing difficulties for Gwent Theatre and, no doubt, other T.I.E.'s. This obviously has meant uncertainty and financial difficulties for TIE's which will need to be addressed. However, the rationalization proposals in ACW's strategy do not address these difficulties in a manner which is likely to sustain the current level and standard of service provided by Gwent TIE Blaenau Gwent Council's support for TIE and young people's participation in drama is based on the strongly held view that but for such initiatives, most children from Blaenau Gwent would not have the opportunity to see a play. For many a trip to Cardiff is a rare event and they simply would have no opportunity to participate in a YPT if that theatre were based outside the locality. In our case Abergevenny is an excellent centre for most of the Gwent area, including Blaenau Gwent. I accept that companies touring schools to perform and discuss the work need not be based as close as Abergavenny is to Blaenau Gwent. However, if the company is based too far away it will restrict their ability to perform in schools both morning and afternoon, and actually increase costs per performance and per pupil. Who will bear that cost? Most likely fewer children will have the opportunity to see the performance or the audience size will be increased to a number which will inhibit post-performance discussion. The quality of the experience and the educational value will diminish. Equally the links with the community will reduce, as admitted in paragraph 5.7 of the paper. I cannot think of a stronger condemnation of the strategy. The remainder of paragraph 5.7 referring to 'new partnerships' is vague and unconvincing Paragraph 5.5 of the paper puzzles me; it refers to four franchises at £180,000 each, amounting to £720,000. It continues by saying 'these would be larger sums than the current average grant of £111,57 fro the eight existing companies - a total of £888,000. What happens to the balance of £168,000 or is the proposal a means of cutting ACW grant to TIE? Within wales we have a progression of opportunities for young people in both theatre and music. At local level there is activity in schools, towns and at Unitary Authority level. At the next stage there are the TIEs and in our case fro music, the went orchestra and bands. Then there is the national level for both music and theatre. These proposals threaten that progression, because the gap between school/town activity and the next stage is too great other than for those who are fortunate to live within a short distance of one of the proposed four TYPs The timing of the proposals is inappropriate, partly because of the intended review of the organisation of the NYT (National Youth Theatre) to be considered by the WJEC and WLGA over the next 12 months, but mainly because the National Assembly will be in place later this year and will undoubtedly wish to comment on an issue which concerns the education and development of children and young people |
| Blaenau Gwent Borough Council web site: |
| Brian Mawby, Director of Education e-mail: |
Monday, February 1, 1999 |
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