Irony of ironies?

News of the decision of the Welsh Assenbly Government to bale out the iconic Millenium Arts Centre must be very good news to the citizens of South Wales. It means that they can continue to receive high quality arts events that are subsidised by all Welsh taxpayers. Not only are the capital debts to be written off, £13.5million pounds worth, but their annual revenue funding is to be increased by a staggering £2.5 million pounds.

For my sins, and of course my general interest in the arts, I am a County Council appointed trustee of a small Arts Centre in rural mid Wales which has struggled on a very low level of grant support for years, and as a consequence operates very much on a hand-to-mouth basis, constantly seeking to create future programmes without any certainty of knowing whether promised funding will actually materialise.

An additional funding injection of a mere £100,000 would secure this venue's future for three years, and the Chairman of Arts Council of Wales contiues to refuse to meet with our trustees to discuss future funding. Meanwhile, our funding deficit continues to widen and, with no prospect of increasing income from either public or private sources, there is a real possibility of closure of the venue completely.

If this venue does eventually close, it may not be because WAG has found unspent reserves to support the Wales Millenium Centre, but I defy any politician to convince the people of Mid Wales that there is absolutely no connection between WAG's ability to find funds to support the arts in Cardiff and their inability to even discuss the support of the arts in mid Wales.