Prof. Ian Watson - Rutgers University-Newark

Dear Richard and Judie,

I have just heard about the pending cut in funding to the Centre for Performance Research, Wales (CPR). This is catastrophic. Yours is one of the most important research centers in the field anywhere in the world. The work you have been doing over the past thirty some years is not only groundbreaking for those of us interested in the artistic, cultural, and intellectual implications of performance, it is something that has brought attention to an organization that is deeply rooted in the land that spawned it. You have done more than any organization I am aware of to raise the visibility of Wales throughout the United Kingdom and beyond than any similarly scaled artistic/research organization. For a quasi-governmental organization like the Arts Council of Wales to cut off your funding is at best short sighted, at worst damaging to Wales itself.

From this side of the pond, there is little more I can do than put my support for what you have been doing in writing. In doing so, please convey to the Arts Council my protestations about their intended cuts. Please explain to them that the innovative programming, research opportunities, and the forum for ideas that you provide cannot be allowed to fade into memory. Yours is a vital, necessary endeavour that serves a local, national, and international community that is both rooted in and vital to Wales itself.

If I can do more in this matter, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Ian Watson
Professor of Theatre and Chair
Department of Visual and Performing Arts
Rutgers University-Newark
USA