Dr Roger Owen - Aberystwyth University

21st February 2008

Dear Richard and Judie,

I’m writing this with an increasingly familiar feeling of sadness and frustration at the way in which arts organisations which I deeply respect are being treated by the Arts Council of Wales.

ACW’s decision to revoke CPR’s revenue funding is misinformed, myopic, instrumentalist and cravenly dishonest. The implications of this decision for some of your most hardworking and committed staff members at CPR are deeply regrettable. Without a full team, the value of your work is placed in severe jeopardy; and ACW’s view that it may continue on a project funded basis is simply contemptible.

CPR has been a leading organisation in Wales and the UK for many years; it is a beacon company if ever there was one. It has introduced me to theatre and performance work of the highest order: it has been bold, exploratory, uncompromising, inspirational. It is through CPR’s international reputation and contacts that I’ve had some of the most compelling theatrical experiences of my life – performances which have completely exploded the limits of what I thought I knew: Teatr Osmego Dnia, Akademia Ruchu, Victoria, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Tg Stan, and many more. My career as an academic and my feeling for theatre art in theory and practice has been immeasurably enriched by CPR’s conferences, events, workshops and resources. You simply cannot conjure these things out of thin air, nor sustain them on good will.

I can only thank you for all this, and hope that you will fight tooth and nail to sustain your commitment to excellence and innovation in theatre and performance in some way.

Yours,

Roger

Dr Roger Owen
Lecturer
Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies
Aberystwyth University