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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Cllr Peter Rees declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in relation to Item 3a. He is a patron of Neath Little Theatre, and his son is a member of Neath Little Theatre.
Members scrutinised the cabinet forward work programme item.
Members considered the report as circulated within the agenda pack. Chris Saunders, Head of Leisure, Tourism, Heritage and Culture, introduced the report. Members were reminded that a cultural strategy had been brought forward in late 2023. Good progress had been made on parts of that strategy, particularly on heritage, where there were strong networks, many volunteers and a clear understanding of the sector. The arts sector, by contrast, was active but disparate, with limited support from the Council. Arts Council Wales had also identified that position. A five-year partnership had since been established with Arts Council Wales, and the Council was around eight or nine months into that partnership. Rhian Jones had been appointed as Arts Development Manager towards the end of the previous year. The purpose of the Arts Strategy was to underpin how the Council would engage with, help and collaborate with the arts sector over the coming years. Chris Saunders added that Neath Port Talbot was widely regarded as a creative hotbed, but much of that activity simply happened without structured support, and the strategy was intended to strengthen and organise that work. The Chair welcomed the report and said the sector had needed greater outreach, coordination and support for some time. The Chair also recognised Rhian Jones’s work in meeting a wide range of groups, organisations and individuals across the area, and said the sector valued having someone from the Council taking the time to understand what was working and what support was needed. Members welcomed the strategy and said it was positive to involve young people across the full range of arts activity. He referred to the report’s reference to a limited budget and asked what the budget was. Karleigh Davies advised that the partnership project was funded by Arts Council Wales with match funding from the Council. At the start of the five-year arrangement, Arts Council Wales contributed the larger share and the Council a smaller top-up, with that balance reversing by the end of the five years. The overall project budget was around £85,000 per year. Staff costs were met from that sum. After staffing costs, around £23,000 on average across the remaining four years would be available to deliver initiatives and priority projects identified in the action plan. Karleigh Davies added that the Council was encouraged to apply for additional funding for key projects through Arts Council Wales and other funders. Members asked whether the Council would offer venues for projects at reduced or fully discounted rates, including Pontardawe Arts Centre, the Gwyn Hall and the new theatre in Port Talbot when complete. Chris Saunders advised that discounted rates were already offered for amateur dramatics and similar activity, although venues were not offered free of charge because costs still had to be covered. Pontardawe Arts Centre was already a portfolio organisation with Arts Council Wales and received annual funding, some of which was used to support projects and outreach to organisations, meaning activity could take place without direct Rhian Jones cost to those organisations and without creating unfunded cost pressure for the Council. He said the approach needed to be managed carefully and intelligently. added that part of the project was to help organisations establish themselves as legal entities so they could access Arts Council of Wales funding. That longer-term approach was intended to help the sector stand on its own feet. Members stated that they hoped opportunities would be advertised internally within the Council so Members could see what was happening. Rhian Jones confirmed there needed to be better networking and information sharing. She intended to produce a newsletter for the sector highlighting opportunities, and to run training sessions for organisations on governance, formalising structures and applying for funding. The Chair commented that many people in the arts were highly skilled creatively but less experienced in grant applications, administration and governance, and that some of the value in the work would come from training, networking and knowledge sharing. Rhian Jones agreed that this was a common issue in the arts. Members referred to earlier discussion on the rebranding of the theatre and said that many community groups had stopped using it because of expense. Members gave the example of a choir they belonged to that had previously used the theatre but had instead performed outdoors. Members asked whether the budget for the Arts Strategy could offset venue costs for community groups. Chris Saunders advised that revised pricing structures had already been considered for the Port Talbot theatre, with a range of prices and options to open only parts of the building in order to reduce operating costs and therefore reduce charges to groups. Research undertaken in response to a recent enquiry had shown that the venue was considerably cheaper than some other local venues. The theatre had not been offered free of charge, but the pricing had been structured to make it easier for amateur groups to use it while limiting their financial exposure. He added that Pontardawe Arts Centre’s portfolio funding from Arts Council Wales covered activity such as performances, especially through the medium of Welsh, youth groups and music sessions, and the longer-term ambition was to create similar support across other venues. Karleigh Davies then answered directly that the Arts Strategy budget could not subsidise venue costs, because expenditure had to be tied to activity in the action plan and venue subsidy was not an eligible use. She said the focus would instead be on helping groups access their own external funding, which could then assist with venue hire costs. Members asked whether Rhian Jones had met Stuart Broad from Calon Films, who was seeking to develop a film on the Dick Penderyn story and repurpose St Mary’s Church as a visitor and arts centre. Karleigh Davies confirmed she had been in contact with Stuart Broad over a number of years and had met him around 18 months to two years earlier to discuss how the film might be progressed. She said the project had recently hit funding difficulties, which had been publicised on social media. She had previously signposted the group to the film division of Welsh Government, although that had not been successful. She said the challenge was that the project was seeking commercial finance, which limited the available support routes. Calon Films had also attended the recent Town of Culture event at the Plaza, had led a table there and had been actively engaged. Rhian Jones said further engagement would continue. Members commented that a successful film could generate wider interest in the area. Chris Saunders agreed and said the project formed part of the wider arts community. He added that the funding model being pursued by the group was of interest, especially as the structure of the organisation made it ineligible for obvious Arts Council funding routes, and he would continue to help if opportunities arose. Members asked whether Neath Little Theatre would be involved. Rhian Jones confirmed that one of her first meetings had been with Jamie and two other trustees from Neath Little Theatre. Jamie had also been invited onto the stakeholder group. The Chair moved to a question on the Nights Out Scheme and asked for clarification on the funding mechanism, sustainability and scale. Karleigh Davies advised that the Nights Out Scheme was an Arts Council Wales scheme designed to support community-level events of an appropriate standard, with local arts, local culture and Welsh language activity among the relevant areas. Arts Council Wales assessed applications rigorously and would cover up to 50% of the artist’s fee. The organising body would then run the event, undertake promotion and ticket sales. If the event failed to generate enough income to cover the costs, Arts Council Wales would meet the loss up to the level of the guarantee. In many local authorities where the scheme was more active, the local authority also provided an additional guarantee to cover residual losses beyond the artist fee support. In Neath Port Talbot, only one event had been held through the scheme in the previous five years. The Council proposed to designate around £5,000 per year from existing destination development budgets as a local guarantee. Karleigh Davies said the actual financial risk was minimal because most of the guarantee would be expected to be recovered through ticket sales, given that events had already been vetted for demand, quality and organisation by Arts Council Wales. Chris Saunders added that this arrangement would be brought forward as a single Cabinet Member decision in the following few weeks because public money was involved, and Councillor Cen Phillips was likely to determine it. Councillor Cen Philips, advised that the guarantee would allow Rhian Jones to encourage smaller organisations to put events on without feeling they were being encouraged into financial risk. Rhian Jones added that the scheme had existed for a long time and it was disappointing that there had been only one take-up in Neath Port Talbot over five years. She said this indicated a lack of awareness and noted that the scheme’s website also offered a useful brochure-style list of suggested productions and events already being used in communities elsewhere in Wales. The Chair said the confidence provided by the guarantee was crucial and referred to a local organisation he had recently spoken with that was only willing to book acts because the scheme existed. Members asked whether a Cwmavon Community Orchard Group event might qualify for support. He outlined the group’s Apple Day and a Wassail event in January to wake the orchards, involving the Mari Lwyd, children making noise with saucepans, and a follow-on event in a local club such as the rugby club or wine club. He said the group would like to book a top Welsh folk group to continue the Welsh cultural theme. The Chair advised that the indoor club event would potentially be suitable, even if the orchard element itself might not be. Rhian Jones offered to discuss the event further. Rhian Jones then declared a personal interest, explaining that her husband ran Trac Cymru, the support agency for traditional music in Wales, and that they were supporting some Mari Lwyd projects, including a proposed event at the Gnoll at an early planning stage. Officers also referred to links with traditional musicians and Gwyr y Stac, and said there was scope for further discussion after the meeting. Members welcomed that support. The Chair then asked about the governance group and stakeholder group, including how people would be selected and how the Council would secure a balance across geography and art forms. Karleigh Davies advised that the governance group would consist primarily of Council officers and Arts Council Wales, with a straightforward role in overseeing delivery of the agreement, the action plan and the strategy. The stakeholder group had been selected carefully to represent different parts of the county borough and different genres within the arts. The aim was not to invite every arts organisation into one large group, because that would become unwieldy and lose focus. Rhian Jones said the stakeholder group was intended to lead the strategy and action plan and therefore needed people with experience in running organisations and understanding funding structures. It would meet four times a year and focus on governance and strategic direction rather than being a forum for all groups to talk about their individual projects. She added that the invited organisations could send only one representative. The wider model would then be built around task and finish groups, locality-based groups, genre-based groups or project-specific groups as needs emerged. Karleigh Davies added that specific engagement with young people would take place outside the stakeholder group, potentially through the youth council or through a separate group. Rhian Jones said that work with young people would be done in a creative and relaxed way, rather than through a formal committee-style process, to draw out what young people wanted and how they could engage. She also intended to reach beyond the youth council into schools, employability groups and Neath Port Talbot College so that young people involved in the arts outside formal education could be included. The Chair welcomed the intention to keep the stakeholder group manageable and said the challenge would be reassuring the wider sector that it remained involved. Rhian Jones said her engagement work had already been end-to-end and that the proposed sector newsletter would help people feel involved. The Chair also observed that once a database of activity and contacts had been built up, issue-specific groups could be convened quickly when needed. Rhian Jones confirmed that this was the intention. The Chair next asked about schools, pathways and whether there would be mapping of arts activity in schools. Rhian Jones advised that she had previously run the Arts and Education Network for Mid and West Wales, funded by central government and Arts Council Wales, and therefore had relevant experience. She was currently identifying key contacts in schools. Progress had been made with secondary schools, with contact groups for performing arts, music and some visual arts, although visual arts contacts were proving harder to establish. She was also seeking the specific expressive arts leads in each primary school, with the intention of building relationships with all of them. That would allow discussions around offers from external organisations and projects. She said arts organisations were frequently asking how to contact the right people in schools, and she was working on that link. Karleigh Davies added that officers hoped to present at Llan, the county-wide network of head teachers. She said a key output of the project would be enabling schools to apply for Arts Council funding. Some schools already did so, but take-up was not equal across the board. There were specific funds available to schools for artistic activity. Rhian Jones added that the Arts Council had already shared information with her on which schools did and did not apply, so that support and encouragement could be targeted accordingly. The Chair said early school experience of arts and culture often shaped later participation in drama clubs, bands and wider creative activity, and welcomed this line of work. The Chair then asked about the one-stop shop referenced in the report and whether there was an existing model elsewhere or whether this was still conceptual. Rhian Jones said the idea had emerged from one of the initial consultation sessions. She thought it was a good idea, but did not yet know exactly how it would work in practice. The phrase sounded attractive, but there were still basic questions around who it would be for and what its main function would be. She said further consultation would be needed before any structure was developed. In the meantime, she was starting with the sector newsletter and was also working with existing Council communications channels and Dramatic Heart to help organisations such as Neath Little Theatre upload and promote their own activity. She said she did not want to reinvent the wheel and would instead look for communication gaps that might justify additional provision. The Chair said that seemed a sensible approach and agreed that the term one-stop shop was difficult to picture in practice without further development. No further questions were raised. Councillor Cen Phillips Cabinet Member thanked officers for their work and said the strategy was an important step in improving support and enablement across the sector. He said Neath Port Talbot had a strong creative history, and this work would help the Council become better at supporting it. Following scrutiny, the recommendation was supported to Cabinet.
There were no items selected from the Scrutiny Forward Work Programme.
There were no performance monitoring items selected.
The following were added to the Forward work Programme. • Task and finish group on the Heritage Strategy • Chair to write to Welsh Government to ask them to attend a meeting to provide an update on Baglan Bay. The Forward Work Programme was noted.
There were none.
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