Dr Günter Berghaus

I am dismayed to learn that the Welsh Arts Council, rather than standing as a beacon for innovation in the performing arts, intends to withdraw its funding for one of its powerhouses, the Centre for Performance Research.

Performance has always been at the heart of cultural life in Wales. Welsh and British theatres require resources for the development of new and innovative performance techniques. And the Centre for Performance Research has been in the forefront nationally and internationally of providing research, development and training that utilises the skills of the best theatre practitioners available from across the world. The Centre for Performance Research is an institution that has provided invaluable service to researchers and practitioners working in the field of theatre and performance art. Its collaborations and exchanges with theatre companies of international significance have added much to the cultural diversity of Wales. And its distinctive programme of fostering international links in the form of workshops, conferences, lectures and masterclasses has raised the visibility of Wales worldwide. Its publication programme and forward looking promotion of innovative theatre books and journals, as well its archival documentation of performance practices around the world has been unique and extremely valuable to practitioners and researchers alike.

The sustained vitality, creativity, vision and openness of CPR's staff has helped to built up, over many years, an infrastructure and network of contacts that is the envy of similar institutions in other countries. A closure of this internationally acclaimed center would seriously damage the UK's and Wale's reputation in the field of the performing arts.

I therefore wholeheartedly appeal to the Welsh Arts Council to reverse these cuts, and to support the Centre for Performance Research with increased rather than diminished funding, so that it can continue to offer its unique programme of cultural co-operation, collaboration and exchange to theatre practitioners and academics from Wales, the UK and beyond.


Dr Günter Berghaus,

scholar and researcher, formerly Reader at Bristol University, Professor at Brown University, Providence / RI and Professor at State University of Rio de Janeiro.