Diwylliant a'r Celfyddydau: Braf i'w cael neu'n allweddol i ddyfodol Cymru?

Erthygl Sioned Williams AS am pam y dylai'r llywodraeth fuddsoddi mwy yn y celfyddydau

Saesneg yn unig.

That was the title of a recent debate in the Senedd on Arts and Culture, where we had a full discussion on whether our literature, music, drama, art, museums, theatres and cultural institutions are just a “nice to have” or whether they represent something more fundamental to our nation.

I argued the latter.

History, as has been widely observed, is written by the victors. Culture, therefore, is the way people’s everyday experiences – their language, their traditions, their way of life – are recorded and preserved. It is how we come to understand who we are and our place in the world.

In the debate, I argued that in Wales, a nation for so long without power or a political voice, the arts and culture has helped actually build our nationhood - what it is to be Welsh – and therefore, there might not be a Cymru football or rugby team or even a Senedd today without them.

I also spoke in the debate about the importance of local arts centres, using Pontardawe Arts Centre as an example of how the arts transform communities and lives, bringing people together, opening doors to all to participate in our national story and boosting confidence and opportunity in communities facing poverty, hardship and social pressures and tensions.

Participation in the arts can reduce isolation, contribute to physical and mental well-being, and nurture a sense of belonging. Cultural activity also regenerates communities economically, supports small businesses and creates employment and prosperity.

I was recently in the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea and heard about their exciting plans that will make this wonderful space even more engaging and welcoming to all. The industrial history which is told there helps us not only understand the story of our past but also of our future, because the conversation about preserving our industrial past is a current one, too, with the closing of the Port Talbot blast furnaces. I’ve had a number of constituents contact me with fears that memories of the way of life that grew up around the steelworks will become lost to time without the efforts to preserve it. And part of that community’s story of course is how it not only gave us steel, but also world class actors such as Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheen.

So I argued in the Senedd that culture and the arts were most definitely more than a “nice to have”. And I would also argue that the Welsh Government should be investing more in them, rather than often viewing the arts as an easy choice for cuts. The arts are not a drain, they're a driver.