Additional £3.7m from Welsh Government to support local and national museums

The Welsh Government is to provide an additional £3.7m in funding this year to support urgent repairs and relieve financial pressures at national and local cultural institutions.

Of this funding pot, £3.2m will be earmarked for repairs at the National Museum Cardiff and National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

The remaining £500,000 will go to local and independent museums and archives, funding improvements to storage facilities and the protection of collections.

The new funding comes after urgent talks and a recent Senedd debate highlighting the severe impact of this year’s cuts to the government’s culture budget, which included a 10.5% cut to Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.

Amgueddfa Cymru representatives have described how the collections at the National Museum Cardiff are at risk, warning that building may have to close to the public without immediate funding for repairs due to the deterioration of its roof and faulty electrics. The leaking roof has meant that paintings have to be moved and buckets used to collect rainwater during heavy downpours.  

The museum will receive £1.3m from the new funding pot towards the repairs. It is estimated that a total of £30m will be required over the next six years to overhaul the building.

The Welsh Government said that funding will continue to be invested in the redevelopment of the National Slate Museum in Llanberis, which will "create opportunities for greater and improved access in North Wales to the national collection”.

A voluntary severance scheme is currently underway at Amgueddfa Cymru due to the budget cuts. Welsh culture secretary Lesley Griffiths told the Senedd last month that some funding intended for the government's culture strategy had been redirected in order to reduce the number of redundancies that would have to be made.

The additional funding for local and national institutions means that the government’s plans to invest in an anchor gallery for the National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales and Museum of North Wales will be shelved for the time being.

The government said that “the immediate priority of protecting and preserving cultural institutions and their collections means investing [in those institutions] will not be possible at this time”.

Announcing the additional funding this week, Lesley Griffiths acknowledged that the funding is a “very small amount” in the face of the challenges facing cultural institutions, adding: “I fully appreciate that, but that’s all I can find this year.”

In a statement, Griffiths said: “We have had to make some difficult decisions and choices, but we have listened and the priority at this time must be helping to safeguard our cultural institutions be they large or small, national or local.

“Funding will also ensure local museums and archives are supported, recognising the extremely important role they play in telling the stories of their areas."

Jane Henderson, the president of the Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales, said: “We're delighted that Welsh Government is acknowledging the importance of caring for collections held in local museums and archives. These objects and collections combine to tell the histories of people and their communities which together tell a powerful story of a nation built from many parts.”

Amgueddfa Cymru chief executive, Jane Richardson, also welcomed the news: “The museum is over 100 years old and was specifically built to house and showcase Wales’ very special national collection.

“We are delighted that this extra investment will enable us to begin the work to ensure this collection remains accessible to the people of Wales as well as visitors from the rest of the UK and across the world.”

Report expresses concern over governance at Amgueddfa Cymru

Meanwhile a report published last month has criticised previous governance arrangements at Amgueddfa Cymru.

The Senedd’s committee for public accounts and public administration said it was “extremely concerned” about the arrangements that were in place during an employment dispute between the institution’s former director and president in 2020-21.

In the report, which scrutinised the institution’s financial reports for 2021-22, committee chair Mark Isherwood wrote that the dispute had “exposed serious governance issues that led to significant costs for the public purse, as part of a novel and contentious settlement”.

The dispute incurred costs of £620,000 in total, comprising a number of settlements, compensation payments and legal fees.

It followed a breakdown in relations between Amgueddfa Cymru’s former director-general David Anderson and former president Roger Lewis, which led to Anderson raising several grievances against Lewis. Both men have now left the institution.

The Welsh Government contributed £40,500 to the overall cost of the settlement agreement, comprising £20,500 towards external services for the mediation process, £10,000 towards compensation for injury to feelings, and £10,000 towards a payment for loss of office.

Isherwood said in the report: “The committee was extremely concerned by the evidence heard about the governance arrangements that were in place at Amgueddfa Cymru and how, ultimately, they proved to be wholly unsatisfactory in resolving a foreseeable risk.

“In this case, this was in response to a dispute between two senior parties, a possibility that could occur in any organisation and should have been resolved at the earliest opportunity, in a sensitive and considered way.

“We have grave concerns about the processes that have been adopted throughout this dispute, not least in the interactions between Amgueddfa Cymru and the Welsh Government. More work needs to be done to ensure that this situation is not repeated at Amgueddfa Cymru, or any other public body.”

The report also expressed concern about the candour and quality of information presented during the scrutiny process. The report said: “Throughout the scrutiny process, the committee was concerned about the availability of crucial information that would have helped us to more effectively and promptly scrutinise the serious issues under consideration.”

The report makes several recommendations, including that Amgueddfa Cymru “should provide the committee with a copy of their updated grievance policies, highlighting how these have changed since the time of the original grievances”.

Amgueddfa Cymru said it welcomed the report and was committed to acting on its recommendations. It said it had already implemented significant changes to its governance procedures and management team since the time of the dispute.

A spokesperson for the institution said: "The last few years have been challenging for Amgueddfa Cymru. Lessons have been learned. Following the Welsh Government’s Tailored Review in 2023, Amgueddfa Cymru has already taken significant steps to update and strengthen our governance arrangements. We’re confident that these steps mean we won’t face such challenges in the future.

"Under the leadership of our new chair, vice chair and chief executive, and with a board of trustees with many new members, we’re moving forward and focusing on continuing to deliver inspirational, inclusive and impactful experiences for the people of Wales, across all our museums."