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A £3.7M scheme to build a multicultural arts centre in Cardiff is back on track after the Arts Council of Wales changed its mind and decided to award it funding. Cardiff and District Multicultural Arts Development (Cadmad) has been working for 15 years to develop an arts site for Black, Arab and Asian communities and had hoped to get Lottery funding from the arts quango. But the scheme was in tatters after ACW turned down Cadmad’s application for Lottery funding last month. A public row followed, with Cadmad chairman Jazz Iheanacho calling the decision “an injustice” . ACW decided to reconsider the application and has now approved the major capital grant for £343,000. Sybil Crouch, chairman of ACW, said, “This announcement will prepare the way for Wales to have its first dedicated multicultural arts centre at which both audiences and participants may enjoy and experience a diverse range of activities by cultural groups throughout Wales.” Mr Iheanacho described the move as “fantastic news”. “Cadmad very much welcomes the decision of ACW to provide practical support towards the creation of a multicultural arts centre,” he said. After the grant was initially refused, Cadmad was considering appealing against the decision. At the time, ACW had already given the project more than £200,000 in development money. The centre lost £750,000 in European Funding earlier this year because the Arts Council could not reach a decision on the project. The row over the multicultural arts centre’s funding reached the National Assembly last month when the centre’s backers accused ACW of being prejudiced, saying that the Black and ethnic minority community in Wales had no confidence in the quango. But the ACW’s Lottery director Robert Edge denied the decision had been taken due to any sort of prejudice and said they would be looking at the application again - the first time this had ever happened. |
| Western Mail web site: www.icwales.com |
| Karen Price e-mail: karen.price@wme.co.uk |
Thursday, June 15, 2000 |
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