Written question WQ95355
- Asked by
- Delyth JewellPlaid
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 14 days
Question
What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had within cabinet colleagues and funding bodies about Welsh Government support for the Welsh National Opera with their direct overhead costs of being a national company based in Cardiff whilst going through severe financial difficulties?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership
Welsh Government funding for the arts is channelled through the Arts Council of Wales (ACW). I have met separately with ACW, Equity and the Musicians’ Union, and the Welsh National Opera to discuss the challenges the organisation has been facing. I have also met with the UK Government Minister of State for Creative Industries, Arts & Tourism and the UK Government Minister for Wales about the situation. We collectively recognised the value of the Welsh National Opera and its work and agreed we want to see a positive long-term future for the organisation.
Details of ministerial meetings are published regularly on the Welsh Government website.
I was pleased to announce additional support of £1m for the ACW’s Job Protection and Organisational Resilience Fund in December. Together with the Welsh Government’s revenue allocation of £1.5m already allocated and the Arts Council of Wales’ investment of £1.1m National Lottery funding, a total Resilience Fund of £3.6m is now supporting 60 organisations across Wales, including support for the Welsh National Opera.