|
Open letter to Jo Weston, Chief executive of the Arts Council of Wales fromTracy Spottiswoode |
|
Dear Joanna Weston At the meeting with ACW which Sion Eirian and myself attended as representatives of the Writers Guild Welsh Committee you asked us to provide you with figures regarding new writing provision from Arts Council of England and Scottish Arts Council. In spite of the fact that this information would have been easier for you - as Chief Executive of a sister organisation - to obtain, I have expended a considerable amount of my time and energy (not to mention phone bill!) in researching the situation and what I have discovered makes for pretty depressing reading for the theatre community in Wales and writers in particular. The figures for Scotland are more accurate because of the way their budget is broken down and presented and by virtue of the fact that they specifically ring-fence money for new writing. In England it is more difficult to be exact (for example I don't have a figure for how much of RNT's £11 million funding goes towards the National Theatre Studio for new writing) but I think I am pretty close to the mark. In the financial year 1998-99 Scottish Arts Council spent 30% of their total drama budget on new writing companies and commissions to writers amounting to a total of £1,502,365. Out of 15 revenue funded companies, 7 are new writing theatre companies. The number of companies which commissioned new work from writers was 15 (a mixture of revenue and non-revenue funded companies). Arts Council of England spent over 15% of their total drama budget on new writing companies and commissions to writers amounting to £4,012,424 (as I say, this doesn't include the proportion from RNT's £11 million or RSC's £8.5 million). Out of 35 revenue funded companies, 17 are solely or principally new writing theatre companies. The number of companies which commissioned new work from writers was 62. In 1998-99 10% of Arts Council of Wales total drama budget was spent on new writing companies and commissions to writers amounting to £332,488. This is made up of £257,250 to Made In Wales and Dalier Sylw and £75,238 before tax to writers in the form of commissions from other theatre companies. Out of 17 companies on revenue funding, only 2 are new writing theatre companies. The number of companies which commissioned new work from writers was 7. Scotland and England also have Regional Arts Boards which provide funding to new writing whereas Wales does not. As you see, we fared badly in comparison with England and Scotland even before the Drama Strategy reared its ugly head. In the coming year we are even worse off, despite ACW's assertion that new writing is an important area (is this a new definition of the word 'important'?). Scotland has prioritised new writing for the year 2000-2001. The Scottish Office has increased the budget by half a million specifically for theatre and emphasising new writing, taking the total drama budget up to £5.7 million. They obviously see the link between a strong nation and a strong new writing culture. They have ring-fenced £160,255 for new writing in the form of commissions, bursaries and playwrights in residence. The new writing companies will receive £1,615,000 in total. That represents 31% of their total drama budget. Arts Council of Wales on the other hand is cutting money to the new writing companies by getting rid of one of them (and we only have two to start with!) and NO other money from the drama budget is specifically allocated to new writing. Funding agreements with companies do not ring-fence money for new writing either and there appears to be no obligation on them to commission new work. The new writing company will receive £170,000 under current plans, which represents just over a measly 4% of the total drama budget (calculating that to be £3.5 million, a figure given to me by Anna Holmes) for 2000-2001. Even assuming that companies such as Hijinx (who you wanted to cut) and Theatr Powys (who you wanted to cut) and Theatr Gwent (who you wanted to cut), Bara Caws, Sherman and Spectacle continue to commission new work, this is a reduction of 50% on your previous allocation. Commissions from these companies will not bump up the figure by much because of the low rate: £5309 per commission. (Scottish writers get £1000 more than that). It is not known what the situation will be in England yet because they are devolving to the Regional Arts Boards. But England did get a 15% increase to the arts by comparison with our 2.8% and the RABs are working with the Writers Guild to establish the funding provision. Here, ACW seems keen to ignore expert opinion and intent on working against bodies such as Writers Guild, WAPA and Equity. It is notable that in England and Scotland half of the revenue funded companies are new writing theatre companies. After April you plan that Wales should only have one! Clwyd Theatr Cymru gets 30% of the total drama budget and yet does next to no new work (we don't count adaptations or translations). Is this fair? Is it right? As an actor I applaud Clwyd Theatr Cymru's policy of employing a very high percentage of Welsh actors. As a writer I am totally depressed by their record so far. Is ACW saying that Welsh writers aren't good enough to have their work produced? Given that a commission is only £5309 before tax do you realise that if the new bi-lingual new writing company is only able to produce 4 plays a year (and let us assume parity with 2 Welsh and 2 English) then we are looking at a situation where English language writers (and they make up the majority of playwrights in Wales) have two commissions to pitch for a year (a jackpot of £10,618 before tax for two winners!) and possibly less if one of the plays is a revival. Oh lucky us! You asked us if it matters where the work comes from as long as we still get 18 commissions a year as we did in 1998-99. Well yes, it does matter and this is not to denigrate the excellent work of the TIE or YPT companies, whose commissions make up a very important part of new writing in Wales. But we have to look at what kind of Welsh theatre culture we want in the 21st century. I would say - and I am sure I speak for other writers in WGGB here - that we should be aiming to create the Welsh equivalent of the Royal Court, The Traverse and The Abbey. In that respect, it matters very much where the new plays come from and what sort of space and audience they are written for. By their very nature, most TIE and YPT plays are not going to transfer to the Royal Court or Broadway or be adapted into successful film scripts (as was the case with Trainspotting, My Beautiful Launderette, Buddha of Suburbia, Educating Rita and East is East for example). How do we project a confident, vibrant Welsh voice onto the world stage when our own Arts Council is cutting funding by 50% and reducing the amount of opportunities to Welsh playwrights and consequently actors and directors? You've got your priorities wrong, you should be investing more money percentage-wise into new writing, not less. Have you researched existing models of new writing theatre companies to see how they were established, how they operate and whether that model would work well for us? Have you investigated bi-lingual new writing theatre companies to see if there are inherent difficulties? Have you in fact, done any work at all on whether this cut-price forced-upon-us new writing theatre company is the best option for Welsh culture? I suspect not. Like Dic Edwards I too despair when I hear Sybil Crouch saying that the reversal over TIE shows you are a listening council. We have given advice, pleaded, protested, cajoled, shouted ourselves hoarse and all but gone down on bended knees to beg you to stop what you are doing. You only listen when a gun is put to your head. And in the next breath Sybil dismissed the opinion of 99% of the theatre profession in Wales by saying that the council can't change its policy every time a few individuals complain, as if we are just some luvvies having a tantrum. Writers Guild, Equity, WAPA, WLGA, GALW, the TIE companies, the new writing theatre companies - all opposed. Are these a 'few individuals'? This isn't even about just saving Made In Wales or Dalier Sylw, the issue is much bigger than that. You have no vision, there is no sense of where you are leading us other than to the Job Centre. In comparison with England our situation is dismal, in comparison with Scotland it is tragic. Maybe I should rediscover my Scottish ancestry, because it appears there will be next to no work in Welsh theatre for me or my colleagues in the immediate future. Yours despairingly, Tracy Spottiswoode |
| web site: |
| Tracy Spottiswoode e-mail: |
Wednesday, January 26, 2000 |
Older news
stories have been carefully archived.
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999