With signatories including six former WNO leaders, the letter labels Arts Council England’s proposed funding cut ‘the reverse of levelling up’ <\/p>
Welsh National Opera<\/a> has produced an open letter concerning the threat to its future role in both England and Wales.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n It has been signed by 19 people, including former WNO leaders Sir Richard Armstrong, Sir Brian McMaster, Matthew Epstein, Anthony Freud, John Fisher and Sir David Pountney.<\/em><\/p>\n The full text of the letter is as follows:<\/em><\/p>\n In the debate on arts funding in England little attention has been paid to the deleterious effects of Arts Council England\u2019s (ACE) plans on a major provider to English provincial cities \u2013 an arts company of international repute that is based in Wales, Welsh National Opera (WNO).<\/p>\n For many decades the funding of WNO has been shared between the two Arts Councils of Wales and England, an arrangement that has long been regarded as an invaluable cross-border bargain that benefits audiences in both countries.<\/p>\n It has allowed the creation of an opera company of a scale that Wales alone might struggle to sustain financially. At the same time, it has brought to seven English cities regular opera performances of international quality.<\/p>\n The public may not be aware that until the Covid lockdown, a majority of WNO\u2019s performances each year were given in England \u2013 in Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Birmingham and Liverpool. This cross-border bargain is now imperilled, disadvantaging both countries.<\/p>\n ACE\u2019s plan to reduce WNO\u2019s funding by 35% will not only sharply reduce WNO\u2019s opera provision in England outside London, but will also threaten WNO\u2019s service to Wales, at the very moment that Arts Council Wales (ACW) is undertaking its own strategic review. This is the reverse of levelling up.<\/p>\n Although ACE has offered WNO \u2018transition funding\u2019, the proposed transition would involve reductions in the number of full-time members of the orchestra and chorus that will profoundly change the nature of the company as well as its capacity to deliver the education and community work that has benefited so many young people and communities in Wales and in the English cities to which the company tours.<\/p>\n Several of us have been involved in successive strategic reviews of the company\u2019s operations, all of which involved both Arts Councils. In each of these exercises it has been concluded that maintaining a full-time chorus and orchestra is central to sustaining that quality. The current proposal to rely much more heavily on freelance players and singers \u2013 neither easy nor practical outside London \u2013 strikes at the very source of WNO\u2019s high reputation.<\/p>\n In the wake of last week\u2019s 40th anniversary of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World it is utterly perplexing to us that these plans should be under discussion at the very moment that ACE is embarking on a strategic review of opera and music theatre. Horses and carts come to mind.<\/p>\n Moreover, we note that the proposed review refers only to England. We would urge ACE and ACW to work together on this review, to ensure its remit includes England and Wales, and for any reduction in WNO\u2019s artistic core to be resisted while that review is undertaken. Arguably, this could merit an all-UK approach.<\/p>\n At the same time, we would urge ACW and the Welsh Government not to compound ACE\u2019s error by any further injury to a company that has burnished Wales\u2019s artistic reputation across the world for three-quarters of a century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Signed by<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Sir Richard Armstrong<\/strong> Dame Hilary Boulding<\/strong> Matthew Epstein<\/strong> Rebecca Evans<\/strong> John Fisher<\/strong> Anthony Freud<\/strong> Helena Gaunt<\/strong> David Jackson<\/strong> Gwyn Hughes Jones<\/strong> Samantha Maskrey<\/strong> Sir Brian McMaster<\/strong> Sir David Pountney<\/strong> Matthew Prichard<\/strong> Tim Rhys-Evans<\/strong> Menna Richards<\/strong> Geraint Talfan Davies<\/strong> Dame Kiri Te Kanawa<\/strong> Lord Wigley of Caernarfon<\/strong><\/p>\n Llyr Williams<\/strong> Pictured: Peter Berger as Laca Klemen and Elizabeth Llewellyn as Jen\u016ffa in WNO\u2019s production of Jan\u00e1\u010dek\u2019s Jen\u016ffa<\/em>, 2022. Pic: Robbie Jack\/Corbis\/Getty<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/div>\n<\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n With signatories including six former WNO leaders, the letter labels Arts Council England’s proposed funding cut ‘the reverse of levelling up’ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29424,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"5"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/welsh-national-opera-open-letter-laments-arts-council-funding-cut.jpg",1890,1331,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/welsh-national-opera-open-letter-laments-arts-council-funding-cut-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/welsh-national-opera-open-letter-laments-arts-council-funding-cut-300x211.jpg",300,211,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/welsh-national-opera-open-letter-laments-arts-council-funding-cut-768x541.jpg",768,541,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/welsh-national-opera-open-letter-laments-arts-council-funding-cut-1024x721.jpg",800,563,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/welsh-national-opera-open-letter-laments-arts-council-funding-cut-1536x1082.jpg",1536,1082,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/welsh-national-opera-open-letter-laments-arts-council-funding-cut.jpg",1890,1331,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"With signatories including six former WNO leaders, the letter labels Arts Council England's proposed funding cut 'the reverse of levelling up'","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/29423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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