National Theatre Wales (NTW) has warned that it will be forced to close in six months’ time after its multi-year funding was withdrawn by the Arts Council of Wales (ACW).
The company, Wales’s English-language national theatre, which has received ACW funding since it was established 15 years ago, issued an open call for conversation with them on Wednesday after lodging an appeal. The cut is part of the 2023 Investment Review, in which the arts council announced that NTW was one of nine organisations from its arts portfolio that would not be offered multi-year funding from 2024-25 but could apply to its other funds. NTW said it was “deeply shocked” to receive news that its revenue funding would cease in spring.
The decision means Wales will “lose one of its largest employers of theatre-makers” write NTW’s artistic director Lorne Campbell and co-chairs Sharon Gilburd and Yvonne Connikie in the letter. “We employed 645 people last year alone. This decision will jeopardise the skills and career development of our finest actors, directors, writers, designers and production staff. Many of those we’ve supported now sit at the helm of the organisations that ACW funds.” NTW had used its 15-year arts council support to generate an additional £11m worth of investment into theatre in Wales, the letter continues, adding that the company is also part of a pipeline to the television and film sectors.
“If this funding decision stands, Wales will lose National Theatre Wales in six months’ time,” warns the letter. “If lost, it will not be easily or affordably replaced.”
The outcome would also “pull apart” the company’s community arts engagement network, which it said had been “co-created with 104,000 people throughout Wales”. Theatres across Wales that are funded by ACW would find themselves with fewer shows to stage if NTW closed, it added.
In its review, ACW stated that the decision “does not reflect any doubts we have about the potential or need for English-language theatre in Wales”. It added that the review – which will provide conditional grants of almost £30m from Welsh government and the national lottery to 81 creative organisations, including 23 new to the portfolio – will “see an increase in companies producing theatre in English”. But ACW recognised that, following its decision, “there will not be a designated national theatre company working in the English language”. (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, Wales’s other national theatre, is a Welsh-language company.)
ACW added that it would be commissioning a report into English-language theatre provision in Wales. NTW welcomed that proposal but challenged the decision to “dismantle” the theatre company before the review takes place.
An ACW spokesperson acknowledged receipt of the letter from NTW and said it was “happy to meet with National Theatre Wales to discuss matters requiring clarification and options moving forward” but that it would not be commenting “to protect the integrity of the appeals process and all parties involved. This is consistent with our approach to other organisations in a similar position.”
NTW, which calls itself a “free-range” theatre company, tours widely rather than staging its productions in a home base and it frequently puts on site-specific shows. In Easter 2011, its epic production The Passion – a modern-day passion play starring Michael Sheen – took place across Port Talbot and featured more than 1,000 community volunteers. Its current show, Circle of Fifths, which draws on stories from the Butetown community in the south of Cardiff, starts its tour later this month.
