Introduction

The Arts Council of Wales (ACW) is the national body with responsibility for funding and developing the arts in Wales. It was established by Royal Charter in April 1994, taking over the staff and functions previously undertaken by the Welsh Arts Council and three Regional Arts Associations. Its sponsoring government department is the Welsh Office. It is a registered charity.

Its objects are:

• to develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts;

• to develop and improve the accessibility of the arts to the public;

• to advise and co-operate with other bodies;

• to carry out the above objects through the medium of both the Welsh and the English languages.

The main functions of ACW are:

• the distribution of funds received from the Welsh Office, other sources and through the National Lottery as grants and other support, involving over 1,000 organisations and individual artists;

• monitoring and appraising the activity of grant recipients;

• providing advice and information to arts organisations and the public;

• creating strategic partnerships with other public bodies and agencies to stimulate arts activity and the arts economy.

ACW operates through a Council of up to 18 members appointed by the Secretary of State for Wales operating an open recruitment procedure. The Chairman and Members are unpaid and act as Trustees of the charity. The Council is assisted in its work by a number of boards and specialist advisory panels. Over 100 people are involved, all unpaid.

Achievements in 1996/97

Full information will be given in the Annual Report to be published in the autumn, but the following may be noted:

• Plans for the radical restructuring of ACW to increase its flexibility and ability to act strategically were devised and a public consultation was concluded at the end of March.

• The establishment of the new 'Arts for All' Lottery scheme which provides grants for the running costs of arts projects and aims to expand the scope of arts funding. The new guidelines include the provision of a 'fast-track' mechanism for small grants and ACW announced the first awards in March 1997.

• By March 1997, 66% of all ACW Lottery awards had gone to amateur, community and education projects and 61% had been for less than £30,000 in pursuit of ACW's objective of spreading the benefit across all sections of the community.

• The needs of young people were targeted through the establishment, following discussions with the Welsh Office, of a broadly based cross-agency working party on the 'Arts and Young People' to devise a new national strategic framework.

• A new partnership was created with the British Council Wales: 'Wales Arts International' to deliver the coordinated development of international arts activity and the encouragement of cultural exports from Wales.

• Literature marketing initiatives helped generate increased sales and Welsh publications (forecast 10%).

• Improvements to the viability of craft businesses through a partnership between ACW, the WDA, DBRW and craft organisations resulting in a 10% increase in turnover.

• ACW's Equal Opportunities programme saw the successful completion of its 3-year Arts and Disability training project (over 100 organisations having received training and a guide to reaching disabled people published) and the initiation of its cultural diversity training programme.

• Completion of a consultation on 'Taking Part', a policy to increase participation in the arts.

Plans for 1997/98

These include:

• implementing a major restructuring of ACW its staff and committees and a new framework for planning and setting targets;

• developing a new strategy to support the programming and marketing of arts events;

• securing agreement on a national strategy to improve opportunities for young people to experience the arts;

• improving the international profile of the arts through visits from International Promoters, showcasing, developing new links with Japan, Quebec, New South Wales; new literary translations and the publication of 'Arts from Wales' on CD ROM and 'Touring into Wales';

• launching a new scheme to encourage the initial vocational training of dance and drama students with a target of assisting 40 students in 1997/98;

• initiatives to increase access to the arts to communities where provision is low: examples including literature in the Valleys and North Wales, opportunities for participation in music and the presentation of arts events;

• launching Sgrin, a new Media Agency for Wales, through a partnership between ACW, BBC, S4C, BFI, TAC, and WDA, to stimulate development in the sector;

• researching and developing a new strategy to deliver training, information and advice to artists and small arts businesses; and

• establishing new arrangements for the delivery of 1,500 community touring and residency projects in Wales.

Key Performance Targets
	1994/95		1995/96		1996/97		1997/98
Key Measure	Set	Achieved	Set	Achieved	Set	Forecast	Set
Increase Attendance at Art Events to 2.83million by 1997/98 (million)	­	2.64	­	2.51	­	2.55	2.83
Increase the proportion of population attending arts events to 43% by 1997/98 (%)	­	43.3	­	40	­	40	43
Maintain in real terms the turnover of arts organisations receiving revenue funding from ACW (£m)	­	35	­	38.5	­	36.6	37.5