Wales faces likely 5% cuts

Revenue funded organisations in Wales should prepare themselves for 5% year on year cuts, according to an interim report, ‘Taking Stock’, from the Arts Council of Wales (ACW). The report is informed by a briefing from the Wales Audit Office, which flags up a likely “real terms reduction of £0.5bn a year” in public services in Wales. ‘Taking Stock’ gives a progress report on ACW’s assessment of 116 business plans submitted by arts organisations in response to ACW’s vision statement ‘Imagine’, and effectively puts the kibosh on the 42% increase requested collectively by the arts organisations themselves. In a candid evaluation of the business plans, ACW praised some as “brave, creative and intelligent” and criticised others as “frankly disappointing” and “exercises in self-promotion”. The report also reaffirmed ACW’s commitment to providing an adequate level of funding to those organisations that emerge successfully from the investment review process.

Surely the point of the plans was for the organizations to be self promoting!