It is with great sadness that we learned of the recent death of Mike Baker. He had been a major figure in the drama world in Wales from his years as an actor, teacher, drama officer and then Drama Director at the Arts Council of Wales.
Anyone holding that position is required to make hard decisions and Mike did not shy away from controversy. However, he always ensured that decisions were made after consultation with the artistic community and the committees that he put together and that they could stand up to scrutiny with integrity.
He was committed to the network of theatre in education companies across Wales that was the envy of the UK during the 80s and 90s and he was a supporter of new work, new writing as well as maintaining funding, often in adversity, for the larger organisations. He created new opportunities for emerging directors as well as ensuring there were training programmes for the sector to increase their professionalism and ability to become more competitive outside of Wales. He had been part of a number of initiatives to create a National Theatre of Wales and would have been proud to see it come to fruition.
He had been ill for a number of years and, sadly, not able to engage with the people that he had been close to professionally and personally for some time. There are many people in theatre in Wales who will have wonderful stories and fond memories of him. We are certainly among those. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his family.