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."
