With funding falling and pressure from the Welsh Government to do more to engage with communities how should the cultural and heritage sector respond?
This year the amount of money the Welsh Government has to spend on public services is 9.4% lower in real terms than it was in 2010. And two-thirds of the austerity driven budget cuts are yet to come.
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This week on Click on Wales
This week on Click on Wales we’ll be examining the modern role that the heritage and cultural sector can play in Wales
Wednesday: John McGrath examines the big issues affecting the heritage sector in Wales Thursday: Karen Dusgate examines how the heritage sector can work differently to mitigate the challenges it faces Friday: Katie Jo Luxton calls for us to reconnect with our natural heritage |
The impact of these cuts are clearly being felt everywhere, not least the cultural sector where funding for museums, libraries and arts organisations are close to the top of the list for cuts. Meanwhile, the sector is being asked to do more through its work to tackle poverty. The Welsh Government commissioned a report by Baroness Kay Andrews, the Labour peer and former Chair of English Heritage, on how to increase participation in culture and heritage – with an emphasis on reaching out to low income families and children. And a separate review by Prof Dai Smith on the role of the arts in raising standards in schools.
Can the sector readably do more with less? Indeed, can it do a similar amount with less? And if so how?
All this week on Click on Wales we’ll be running a series of pieces looking at how the arts and cultural sector can work differently to address the challenges they face. We’ll be placing a particular emphasis on examples of where new approaches have delivered successful results. The issue was the subject of a sell-out Heritage Exchange event run by the IWA and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Before the event IWA Director sat down with some of the speakers to get an overview of the issues. You can listen through the latest IWA podcast:
