The future of the Welsh National Opera is under threat as a result of funding cuts described as "the reverse of levelling up". For many decades, the world-renowned WNO has had its funding shared between the two Arts Councils of Wales and England. But England is now slashing its share of that funding by a third, leaving the WNO "imperilled".
The funding agreement has enabled the WNO to build an opera company of a scale Wales alone might struggle to sustain financially. The majority of the WNO performances are over the border, with shows in Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Birmingham and Liverpool.
In an open letter - signed by 19 people including five eminent figures, each of whom has led the company at some stage (Sir Richard Armstrong, Sir Brian McMaster, Mattew Epstein, Anthony Freud, John Fisher and Sir David Pountney) - they say: "This cross-border bargain is now imperilled, disadvantaging both countries. Arts Council England’s plan to reduce WNO’s funding by 35% will not only sharply reduce WNO’s opera provision in England outside London, but will also threaten WNO’s service to Wales, at the very moment that Arts Council Wales is undertaking its own strategic review. This is the reverse of levelling up."
Arts Council England has offered WNO "transition funding" but the letter states that this is not enough and would have a detrimental effect. "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 cites to which the company tours," they write.
They added that in successive strategic reviews of the company's operations it had been concluded that maintaining a full-time chorus and orchestra is central to sustaining that quality. They said: "The current proposal to rely much more heavily on freelance players and singers – neither easy nor practical outside London - strikes at the very source of WNO’s high reputation."
The letter calls on the two Arts Councils of Wales and England to work together and to ensure that the review - only happening in England - considers Wales to remain under the remit of Arts Council England. At the same time, it urges its counterparts in Wales and the Welsh Government "not to compound ACE’s error by any further injury to a company that has burnished Wales’s artistic reputation across the world for three-quarters of a century."
They added: "In the wake of last week’s 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."
Arts Council for England has been contacted for comment.
