GUEST,Jon asks me to Please clarify.
Well, Jon, I'm afraid that I cannot. I know nothing of the particular circumstances or micro-politics of this venue, I've never been there but I was told by a friend and fellow-tour organiser who wrote "I can vouch for the excellence of this venue and the hard work its staff put in having had the pleasure of visiting it a year ago. I encourage support for this petition." I posted the email from Guy Roderick because it was a particular case that seemed to be symptomatic of the worrying position over Arts Funding that we find ourselves in the UK at present.
I must admit that I was also puzzled by the apparent dichotomy of the extra £1.5 million a year to support live show programmes in venues outside of Cardiff and the apparent pittance being received by what appears to be by all accounts a well-run venue with an adventurous policy. Just how many deserving venues are there in Wales? I can only suggest that you email Guy Roderick with your question.
In both 2006 and 2007, I promoted and tour managed major tours that took me to around fifty Arts Centres in Scotland, England and Wales. Obviously, they varied greatly. There were a couple that had more or less given up the ghost of attracting people to a variety of events and had given themselves up to programmes consisting almost entirely of tribute bands, but generally there are dedicated administrators who feel that they want to make a contribution to their community. There was the one in North Yorkshire where the administrator was funded for 20 hours/week but regularly worked 40/50 hours because she felt that she needed to be there to direct her army of volunteers. There was the one in Surrey; it had been given a massive Millennium Grant for refurbishment and then administrative funds were suddenly withdrawn. The administrator continued working for nothing because she could not bear to see all the money spent in providing her community with a state-of-the-art venue going to waste. And these funding anomalies happen all the time. Have a look at the
Arts Council of Wales website and you will read - ACW reserves the right to amend or withdraw any or all of the funding schemes without notice.

This is the threat that hangs over Arts Centres and it is clear that some administrators live in fear of the decisions of their Regional Arts Council boards and meetings. In a funny way this worked in my favour when last year I was organising a tour for the superb Gambian kora player,
Jali Sherrifo Konteh. Part of my publicity circular mentioned that most of the tour was taking place in October and that was Black History Month More than one Arts Centre told me that Sherrifo had got the gig because their contact at their regional Arts Coucil had said to them, "What are you doing about Black History month?"