Stars warn cuts put ‘land of song’ at risk
WALES as the “land of song” is at risk from cuts imposed by England which threaten the future of Welsh National Opera (WNO), a host of high-profile figures have warned.
Katherine Jenkins, Michael Sheen, Rob Brydon and Bryn Terfel are among 175 actors, musicians, singers, sports people and others who have signed a letter calling for emergency cross-border funding for the cash-strapped WNO.
They say the WNO’s future is at risk with 25% funding cuts leaving it “standing on a precipice”.
Wales’ largest arts employer, is at risk of making its orchestra and chorus part-time and the rest of the company has been offered voluntary redundancy.
Among the letter’s signatories are Julian Lloyd Webber, conductor Simon Rattle, former rugby international and WRU president Gerald Davies, and harpist Catrin Finch. They said the “dismantling” of the company would be devastating to Wales.
The letter calls on politicians to ensure an emergency cross-border funding package to stop the “jewel in Wales’s crown” from making its orchestra and chorus part-time.
If the company is forced to be parttime it would be unable to keep talent and lose its status as the largest touring company in Europe. The letter adds: “What has been painstakingly built up over 80 years will be eroded and a vicious cycle will have begun”.
For 2023-2026 Arts Council England slashed its annual grant from £6.2m to £4m, a 35% cut. Then the Arts Council of Wales — dealing with a 10% fall in its own budget — reduced its annual investment in WNO to just over £4m — a 12% cut.
Arts Council England encouraged WNO to apply to its emergency Transform fund, which provided it around £1m a year, but that came with the proviso that the company makes millions of pounds of savings.
The letter says the pending cuts to the orchestra and chorus will dismantle “one of Wales’s finest national institutions [and] be devastating for the nation, for the organisation and its 222 employees, and for homegrown cultural excellence”.
The letter is being sent to First Minister Vaughan Gething, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, UK culture secretary Lucy Frazer and shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire.