The Arts Council of Wales' recent announcement of their new five-year funding plan caused much consternation in certain quarters - National Theatre Wales losing all £1.6 million, for instance, and Chapter's slice of the pie cut by £275,000 to £400,000. Two discernible trends were a shift towards backing community/grassroots initiatives at the expense of professional organisations and a greater focus on Welsh-language enterprises.
It seems the latter development is echoing a similar policy adopted by the Books Council of Wales (BCW), if this extraordinary broadside from Gary Raymond of Wales Arts Review is anything to go by. Raymond claims that "the English-language magazine sector in Wales is dying" and blasts the BCW for "facilitating that death". Sick of pleas for understanding and support falling on deaf ears, Raymond had decided that enough is enough and declared that Wales Arts Review won't be going cap in hand to the BCW anymore.
It's a bold and principled stance, to be sure, and one that throws Wales Arts Review's future into doubt - but then it sounds as though that future was hardly secure anyway. Investment is clearly needed for survival, but hopefully the move will prove liberating and Wales Arts Review can fight on as an independent entity.
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