The Stage

Wales Millennium Centre saved by £3.7m increase

Published Friday 9 November 2007 at 12:50 by Lalayn Baluch

Cardiff’s flagship venue the Wales Millennium Centre has been saved after the Welsh government announced a vital £3.7 million annual funding increase, in addition to a £36 million settlement for the culture sector.

Despite receiving a “tight” package for the next three years from the Treasury, a £4.5 million merit pot will be allocated to beacon arts organisations across the country until 2011, while Arts Council Wales is to receive a £2.5 million increase for the companies it administers by the end of the spending period.

The proposed English language theatre for Wales has also been awarded an additional £2.25 million lump sum towards the development of the project.

National arts centre WMC is to receive a vital cash injection which is separate from the overall heritage budget, which includes cash for arts, tourism and sport. A new revenue funding package from the Welsh Assembly Government will see public subsidy for the venue rise from £750,000 to £3.7 million - 25% of the theatre’s overall income. Provision will also be made to remove a £13.5 million loan from the WMC’s balance sheet, which will now be paid by the government.

Speaking to The Stage, heritage minister Glyn Thomas said: “We’ve managed to create stable foundations financially for the WMC. It is very important news for the whole of Wales. The centre is an iconic building, but it is also an iconic institution for Wales in terms of the arts, our image internationally, tourism and the creative economy of Wales.

“I think it would have been a tragedy if the centre had to curtail its activities, or indeed close as a result of some of the pressures which it was facing financially. It’s important to make it clear the millennium centre has been a commercial success - the income streams are nearly on target, and are looking to be robust.”

An arts strategy board has been established comprising representatives from ACW, Welsh Local Government Association, Arts and Business Cymru, Wales Arts International, Voluntary Arts Wales and the assembly government. It will act as an advisory panel to the heritage minister about the future of arts policy, and has been created following the Stephens Review’s call to end confusion over who sets arts strategies and agendas in the region.

Thomas also confirmed he intends to uphold the arm’s length principle of funding, a policy his predecessor Alan Pugh tried to abolish last year when he called for select arts organisations to be funded directly from the government.