Gill Lloyd - MBE, Mid- Wales, Director of Artsadmin

TO: Arts Council Wales.

I sincerely hope that Arts Council Wales will take note of the recent disastrous cost cutting fiasco undertaken by Arts Council England and will not even consider taking away long standing companies funding without working with them to devise an operable and lengthy exit strategy.

As one of the directors of Artsadmin in London working in the field of contemporary performance and also a council tax payer with a home in Mid Wales I feel particularly well placed to comment on this situation.

CPR is an important and unique organisation promoting experimentation and process, and offering access to innovative training programmes and approaches to making theatre alongside programmes of high quality presentations and performances from around the world that pursue ideals of accessibility without artistic compromise.

Wales is extraordinarily fortunate to have CPR based in rural Aberystwyth, the profile of the town and the success of its arts and university arts courses is hugely enhanced by them. They are a creative and internationally important player who bring both vital academic rigour and accessible interesting public interventions to an area that would otherwise be very poorly served.CPR has recently opened it’s space, the Foundry which is set to create new possibilities for drama, theatre and performance for both artists and audiences. This is an important transitional stage for this company and with funding and resources will support collaborations and partnerships with many artists in the independent sector in Wales.

£118,300 is a modest grant for the level of service provided by CPR, let alone for the international advocacy that this organisation provides in placing Wales at the centre of the map of contemporary practice. As someone who has worked in the arts for thirty years I am well placed to know that the suggestion that any established organisation might be best served by project funding is simply ludicrous. Organisations need solid core funding which enables them to successfully raise funds for projects – that’s the way it works.

If Arts Council Wales do not regard the work that CPR does as front line activity, with it’s public performances, workshops, publishing initiatives, workshops, international initiatives and festivals in an area otherwise deprived of this quality of programme, then I am a user of their services who is very surprised.Their role in the future of contemporary performance is also key in their work with students, in that there are a decreasing number of arts students as tertiary education costs soar and the students from Aberystwyth are valuable employees and artists.

It would be a false economy to take away this funding, although it is a small amount, core funding is the key foundation upon which fundraising can and does succeed. I therefore hope you will reconsider this and not destroy this cultural oasis in the desert that is mid-Wales.

With best wishes

Gill Lloyd MBE, Mid- Wales
Director
Artsadmin