Arts Council of Wales postpones multi-year funding opportunity

Explaining the reason for postponing the opportunity, Arts Council of Wales Chief Executive Dafydd Rhys said,

“In December, we received confirmation of the Welsh Government’s draft Grant-in-Aid budget which was a slight uplift of 3.6%. Current multi-year funded organisations have been informed that they will receive an uplift of 2.5% in funding this year, subject to budget confirmation by Welsh Government.

“Having carefully considered the pressures facing our current multi-year-funded organisations, and our own financial position against the backdrop of a 10.5% cut in funding last year, we have concluded that we have very limited financial flexibility in terms of introducing any new multi-year funded organisations at this time. 

“We recognise that postponing the re-opening of this opportunity will be disappointing for organisations who had hoped to apply to become a multi-year funded organisation. However, after careful reflection, this postponement makes sense in terms of the scheduled review of the eighty-one current multi-year-funded organisations at the end of year two of their three-year agreements, which will take place in the first quarter of 2026. This will give us a clearer picture of how the sector is evolving, and where ACW support can make a difference.

“We firmly believe that this is the right decision at this time. Should the funding environment change considerably over the coming year, we may be in a position to consider looking at multi-year-funding opportunities for the arts sector in March 2026.”