Welsh museum and culture bodies get share of £5m funding boost

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and the National Library of Wales are among the arm’s-length bodies to benefit from a £5m funding boost from the Welsh Government following sweeping budget cuts earlier this year.

Announcing the additional funding this week, the cabinet secretary for culture, Jane Hutt, said the government had listened to concerns regarding the financial pressures facing cultural and sporting institutions, and had “acted to help them mitigate against the difficulties they face”.

Museum Wales will receive £940,000, while the National Library of Wales will receive £725,000 and £1.5m will go to the Arts Council of Wales.

A further £745,000 will go towards maintaining the financial sustainability of the heritage body, Cadw, while the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales is to benefit from £90,000. The remaining £1m will go to Sport Wales.

The support package is in addition to the £3.2m capital funding announced in July for repairs to be carried out to both National Museum Cardiff and the National Library of Wales.

It comes after museum and culture sector leaders raised the alarm about the “catastrophic” impact of 10.5% cuts made to the arm’s-length bodies in this year’s budget. Amgueddfa Cymru is currently undergoing a restructure after its grant-in-aid was cut by £3m.

Announcing the funding boost this week, Hutt said: “These organisations are key in delivering a number of our Programme for Government commitments and play a fundamental role in promoting good mental wellbeing and physical health and bringing communities together. There is no doubt of the positive impact they have on people throughout Wales.

“We fully recognise this is a difficult financial time for our arm’s length arts and sports organisations as well as Cadw, and we know this funding won’t address all the issues these organisations are facing. However, this support will offer some further financial stability and strengthen the resilience of these bodies.”

Amgueddfa Cymru chief executive, Jane Richardson, said: “We are very grateful for the additional funding from Welsh Government.

“Organisations within the culture and heritage sector are currently working within an extremely challenging financial environment. This financial support will enable us to invest in focused programmes of work that will help lay a foundation for creating a sustainable future for Amgueddfa Cymru.”

The chief executive of the National Library of Wales, Rhodri Llwyd Morgan said: “We are thankful that the Welsh Government continue to show their support for the National Library of Wales. It is important to ensure that staff in mid Wales have fair terms of employment, and the contribution towards the deficit in the Pension Scheme will help to protect jobs.”

Morgan said some of the funding would go towards strengthening the institution’s cyber security infrastructure.

He said: “We are also grateful that there is recognition of the challenges that arise from maintaining a national digital collection, especially following the recent cyber-attack on the British Library.

“The £225,000 will go towards infrastructure that protects the digital collections in the long term and ensures access to them for future generations.”