What is multi-year funding?
The Arts Council of Wales recognises the value of maintaining a strategic overview of a national network of organisations, understanding that this perspective is vital for long-term planning and the overall health of the arts sector.
Multi-year funding is financial support offered to organisations on a rolling basis and was first offered to organisations following our 2023 Investment Review.
The first year of funding started on 1 April 2024, and used the six key priority areas developed as part of the Investment Review to decide which organisations would received multi-year funding. The process looked to fund across a wide range of artforms, size and geography.
Why did we introduce multi-year funding?
In the past, the Arts Council of Wales undertook an Investment Review every five years which resulted in a fixed group of funded organisations which was known as the ‘Arts Portfolio Wales’.
We wanted the 2023 Investment Review to be the last of such big ‘events’ and instead move to a more responsive way of working that allows us to take a longer-term view on our funding. As part of this process, we recognised that multi-year funding makes a real difference to organisations in terms of stability and forward planning, but we want to be more flexible and inclusive in the way we decide who benefits from these valuable resources.
Key changes implemented after the Investment Review 2023 include:
- An initial funding term of three years for the organisations that were offered multi-year funding, with a ‘check-in’ in year two to potentially confirm a further term.
- The potential for a continuous funding relationship, based on the above pattern, as long as the targets in the annual funding agreement are being met and the Arts Council of Wales priorities remain the same.
- When funding allows, the introduction of opportunities for new organisations to secure multi-year funding outside of the usual five-year cycle.
- The focus for decision-making being on the potential of an organisation to have an impact, looking at what they have recently been able to achieve with any past investment, to consider if their plans are feasible.
- An expectation for organisations to publicly publish their targets and progress. This is intended to give communities more visibility of what organisations are achieving.
- The opportunity for organisations to apply for support for the costs of their core activities OR for a discrete project or element of their work.
- Using National Lottery Funding alongside our Welsh Government Grant in Aid funding to ensure an appropriate balance.
- Organisations that receive multi-year funding are able to consider more long-term planning whilst offering a clear framework for helping us report against our own priorities.
- This framework will include agreeing targets with us as part of an annual funding agreement, reporting against these targets and providing other information to allow us to monitor progress and advocate for a better funded sector.