Petra Kuppers - Associate Professor, University of Michigan

I am writing to add my voice to the chorus of people nationally and internationally who are astonished at the Arts Council's decision to withdraw revenue funding from the CPR. I want to speak to the issue from two perspectives: as an international scholar and practitioner far removed from Wales who values the CPR, and as someone who lived in Wales for ten years and knows the importance and influence of the CPR where it is most vital, at home.

As a researcher living across the ocean from Wales, I look towards the CPR as a guide and powerhouse in our discipline and practice: it is a place I send students to, a website I visit regularly, a place where I find information about new research efforts, and a beacon of exciting and invigorating art practice. These days, I am a Professor in the US, and although I haven't been to visit the CPR physically for a number of years, its website is in my favorite list, and electronically, I visit often.

But before taking up my position here in the US, I was a performance researcher and practitioner living in Wales, and I have been able to benefit from the CPRs resources in many different ways. I have studied in the resource centre, was able to interview and work with guest artists from around the world, found my own practice as a community artist in Wales refreshed and in constant dialogue with international practices through the kind of programming and support the CPR offers. I am amazed that the Arts Council considers taking such a vital piece of Welsh support away from the many performance artists who live and work in a region that needs strong networks not just in Cardiff or Swansea, but in the far-flung areas of its land, where many exciting art practices flourish. My career in Wales, the UK and now internationally is enabled by structures such as the CPR, and I hope that the Art Council can reconsider its plan to undermine the centre's functioning.
Revenue funding, rather than project funding, is vital if work is to be sustained, guided, and visionary.

Please consider the costs of these cuts to all of us: Welsh artists and researchers who require networks and centres to come together and grow, and international artists and researchers, to whom the CPR continues to be an important part of the world scene in performance research.

Respectfully,
Petra Kuppers

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Petra Kuppers
Associate Professor
English, Theatre and Dance, Women's Studies
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor