| "Culture is Organic" or Subject to Government Priorities: Senedd Debate |
Culture in the Senedd |
| Arts Minister Lays Out His Views , Public Policy of Wales , May 29, 2025 |
The Senedd record for the afternoon of 20th May 2025 reads: Llywydd: “Item 5 is next, a statement by the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership on priorities for culture. So, the Minister, Jack Sargeant, to make his statement.” The ensuing hour saw 9 speakers. Abridged from a word count of 7700 spoken words: Minister: “Llywydd. I am pleased to publish the 'Priorities for Culture' today, and delighted to be delivering this programme for government commitment. I would like to thank colleagues who have been part of the development journey, including former Ministers and Plaid Cymru designated Members, but most importantly I would like to thank sector stakeholders for sharing their insights and vision and for their positive support for this work. “Llywydd, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 sets out in law that cultural well-being must be a consideration for every policy area and every public body in Wales. The new priorities provide a critically important framework for taking this forward. Whilst the priorities have been in development, we have continued to focus on delivery, even when working within challenging social and economic backdrops. “We have delivered programme for government commitments including Celf, the national contemporary art gallery for Wales, and we are making good progress on the redevelopment of Theatr Clwyd and a new football museum for Wales. “Since 2022 we have awarded more than £5 million to make collections and spaces more inclusive and to support grass-roots cultural participation, ensuring our diverse communities are at the centre of culture. And there has been challenge and discussion in this Chamber relating to the protection of our cultural and heritage collections. We’ve increased capital funding, providing almost £3 million additional funding for urgent works at the National Library of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru, Cardiff last year. “We have continued to invest in local museum, library and archive services through our transformation capital grant, supporting the transformation and modernisation of local services, and between 2022-23 and 2024-25, we have invested over £3.5 million in local projects. In 2024 we launched a new collections management grant scheme for our local sectors, awarding over £420,000. Through small-scale interventions, we enabled local organisations across Wales to improve their storage standards, increase storage capacity and improve collections' care. “Launching the 'Priorities for Culture' provides a renewed impetus and focus for the mid-to-long term future. I’ve allocated £15 million to support the delivery of these new priorities. This includes £8 million for an arts sector strategic capital investment programme via the Arts Council of Wales. This significant investment will provide vital capital funding and support the delivery of many ambitions within the 'Priorities for Culture'. It also includes a £7 million capital and revenue fund for museums, archives, libraries and the historic environment. This will be deployed alongside existing funding streams to maximise its impact. For example, I will be enhancing the collections management grant scheme, providing broader support for our local sectors, matched to the ambitions of the 'Priorities for Culture'. “I want to focus on improving facilities for children, young people and families, but I also want to strengthen their voices. Young people should be deeply embedded in influencing and shaping culture and be able to aspire to future careers in the sector. “We will also focus on leadership and collaboration in sustainable development. Last week I published findings on how culture is responding to the climate and nature emergencies. The report looks at the sector's current approaches and skill sets, providing recommendations and proposed actions. “It is clear the sector needs further support to achieve net-zero and to co-ordinate its response to the climate and nature emergencies. The Welsh Government already funds carbon literacy training for museums, archives and library staff. I will build on this by providing dedicated staffing resource to work across the sectors, based at one of our national bodies, supported by both revenue and capital funding to take this forward. In this first year of implementation, I will also be looking to support intangible cultural heritage and digital improvements. “Llywydd, I would like to end by saying that I am immensely proud of the culture sector. Every day I witness the power of culture. This is a vision developed with and for the sector, and I look forward to working collaboratively with the sector to deliver these priorities. I would like to thank all those who have made this happen, including my team of dedicated officials.” * * * * From the Labour benches Rhianon Passmore reiterated the Ministerial view that the governments in Westminster long held jurisdiction over culture budget allocations in Cardiff Bay. “I welcome the priority statements today...after years of austerity-led underspend, which has led Wales to appear at the bottom of EU cultural spend, this Senedd is fully aware of the financial pressures that are being felt in the world of the arts, especially when these services are often discretionary and not statutory. “However, culture and creatives provide key economic drivers to Welsh gross domestic product and cement our excellence in this world, and generally make life worth living. So, I welcome that the cuts to this portfolio are being partly remediated, but we still do remain low in European portfolio funding standards.” Mike Hedges welcomed the statement and spoke about apprenticeships in dry stone wall building and thatching. * * * * From the Plaid Cymru benches Delyth Jewell: “I welcome the document on the priorities. It is long awaited, because the culture sector has suffered bitterly from underfunding, although there was a bit of a change of course on that earlier this year, of course.” Sioned Williams made no comment on the document. “Culture has such a central role...in changing damaging attitudes for the benefit of all of our society.” Heledd Fychan approved of the document and returned to the context. “Wales ranks third from bottom of European countries in terms of spending per person on recreational and sporting services, and second from bottom for cultural services. That’s not a legacy to be proud of. And it seems to me that the good-news stories and achievements of these sectors in recent years has been despite Government, not because of it.” David Rhys, Deputy Presiding Officer: “Don't forget street art as well. We have a tremendous scene of street art in Wales.” * * * * Gareth Davies was alone in not approving: “I have some grave concerns about some of the ambitions listed in the Welsh Government's priorities. Firstly, when setting priorities, the Welsh Government must be delicate and ensure they are not encroaching on the freedom of the sector, and this guidance fails in that and it clips the wings of the culture sector. “Culture is organic, not top down. The underlying ideological motivation suggests the Welsh Government intends to use our cultural sector as a vehicle for its progressive agenda, and I think that's very sinister. “I agree with the first priority, that culture brings us together. However, the first ambition under this priority is for culture to be inclusive, accessible and diverse, which is directly undermining of togetherness. Emphasising differences within a nation divides us, it does not unite us. We should be emphasising that which binds us: our common culture and our identity. The Welsh Government should not be issuing diktats like this to our cultural sector, railroading their political ideology into public and private life. It should prioritise a cultural sector that reflects Welsh culture. “But perhaps the most dystopian of them all is ambition three, which is for culture to take an inclusive and balanced approach to interpreting, commemorating and presenting our past. While these may sound innocuous on the face of it, the particular use of language has a political undercurrent and many fear that this is a Trojan horse for the Welsh Government to inject its own ideological view. “It's also outrageous for the Government to dictate how institutions present or interpret history. This is historical revisionism and Government overreach. The Welsh Conservatives will not tolerate the Welsh Government injecting divisive left wing grievance narratives into our cultural institutions. This again undermines the first priority of bringing us together. “It is not the role of politicians to determine what productions are in theatres or what exhibitions are in museums. “Moving to ambition seven, for culture to reflect Wales as a bilingual and multilingual nation. This bizarre addition of multilingual is an attempt at inclusion, but every country on earth is technically multilingual. Since the Welsh Language Act 1993, Wales has two official languages, English and Welsh, and the priority should reflect this legislation. “...When the arts and culture sector acts as an arm of the state, the organic nature of arts and culture is lost. What they produce will lack authenticity and will fail to reflect the human condition. Creative expression should not be curtailed on the whim of bureaucrats." Source: https://record.assembly.wales/Plenary/15108#A97117 A critical assessment of the document will be forthcoming. A guide to this sequence can be read in the first link below. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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