Future Funding of the Arts and Culture

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 30 April 2024.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:23, 30 April 2024

But on your point around 'Bread and Roses', I recognise the point that's made and this Government does not want to reduce funding for our cultural institutions; we want to make sure that it is genuinely accessible in terms of what we do in trying to introduce arts and culture, across the opportunities, for young people in every community, recognising that access to arts and culture is different, in practical terms, between different communities. The challenge we have, though, is having the budget envelope that we had and prioritising health and local government and then, within my then department, making choices about wanting to put more resources into apprenticeships. It's a difficult space to be in. Our commitment is to listen to the sector, to work with them within the envelope we have. I would like to see us in a place where we can not just have a cultural strategy that we've agreed with the designated Member, but actually to be able to fund significantly in that in the future. Our current envelope doesn't allow us to do that. What we have done, though, is prioritise money for the cultural strategy, with agreement that that money will be used to try to ameliorate and avoid further job loss in the sector. And that transference of resource does show the shared commitment between the Government and Plaid Cymru in wanting to see jobs continue, wanting to see the culture sector continue. And I look forward, in the future, when I hope there will be a different budget settlement, to seeing a rebirth and a growth in what the cultural sector is able to do and the real contribution it makes to our economy and, indeed, to our society.

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