The Eisteddfod: Wales’ greatest mobile regeneration unit
Bubble — By Gwenllian Carr on August 6, 2010 7:00 am
Tickled pink: there are many ways to measure the impact of an Eisteddfod
SPEAKING from the stage at this week’s Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod, Festival President Daniel Evans spoke of the need to ensure that the arts in Wales do not suffer disproportionally in any future cuts made in public sector funding.
He used the President’s address to emphasise this point, saying:
“There is an intrinsic value, an immeasurable and essential value to the arts in our lives. We can say that the arts have the ability to civilise us, about their role in helping us to understand the world around us and our relationships with one another; how the arts point us towards new ideas, be they philosophical, scientific, practical or academic ideas, and by enabling us to use our imagination, to dream; the arts invite us to step beyond our comfort zone.”
These words, delivered from the stage, the same stage used by some of our nation’s greats over the years – Lloyd George, Rhodri Morgan, Lord Gwilym Prys Davies, to name but a few – are current, relevant and also raise a number of issues and questions which need to be addressed, especially in a time of financial difficulties, the main question being whether the arts and culture are a good investment for public money at this time.
Writing this as the Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod draws to a close, we can look back at a successful week: a week when we have seen a record number of local people attend the festival for the first time, a week which will, hopefully, lead to a cultural and linguistic resurgence in an area whose role in the cultural history of Wales has been forgotten by many over the past few generations.
Daniel Evans also spoke of the shackles facing us at the moment, the obsession both government and the private sector have with measuring success. He says, “Targets and reaching targets are the be all and end all by now.” He went on to say that we shouldn’t measure success every time through things like visitor figures, that these only provide us with populist targets rather than a view of the whole and real picture.
As we prepare to launch our hundred and fiftieth anniversary campaign over the next year, the legacy of the festival in areas across Wales is forefront in our minds. The festival itself – the week – is the pinnacle of eighteen months to two years work – it’s the public face of the work undertaken locally, work which goes unseen by the nation’s press and media, but work which makes a real difference to the lives and aspirations of people of all ages across the catchment area – and work which would never happen without the help and support of public funds.
This year, we’ve run a series of rock workshops funded through a public – private sector partnership, with Penn Pharma and Arts and Business Cymru enabling us to bring in some of Wales’ leading musicians to provide training and mentoring sessions for young people in Blaenau Gwent. Over the past few months, since one particular school became involved with this project and a number of other community based – and publicly funded – projects, the school’s whole attitude towards the language and towards our culture has changed and developed. From being a school where Welsh was not considered a priority, as we approach the next academic year, 22 pupils have shown an interest in studying Welsh to AS level next year, a change and development which has been attributed to the Eisteddfod by the school itself.
The Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys National Eisteddfod is a prime example of the benefits of public investment in the arts and culture. Without public investment, the National Eisteddfod would have been unable to come to the Valleys of south east Wales. The Eisteddfod is an important part of the regeneration of the Blaenau Gwent and Heads of the Valleys area, and the benefits to the local area are much wider to the region than the easily measured economic impact.
We believe that the National Eisteddfod’s legacy affects the local area in four ways, it has an economic, cultural, linguistic and community impact. Much has been said over recent weeks about the economic impact of one of the world’s greatest cultural festivals on the local economy. Judged by independent research to bring between £6 and £8 million benefit locally, and whilst the local economic return was an important factor for Blaenau Gwent Council, the Heads of the Valleys Initiative and to a lesser extent, the Welsh Language Board, the linguistic and community impact provide a real legacy for the language and for the community as a whole.
Described by a senior figure at the Arts Council of Wales as Wales’ greatest mobile regeneration project, the impact of bringing a predominantly Welsh language festival, and a festival promoting the language and the culture of Wales, to a part of the country where the language lost ground over recent generations, is huge. Coupled with the impact of the Welsh Assembly Government’s decision to fund a free entry scheme aimed in the first instance at people across Blaenau Gwent and the Heads of the Valleys, the interest in culture, and particularly in ensuring that the young children of the area are given the opportunity to learn Welsh and have the chance to speak Welsh is phenomenal, and any of the 25,000 people – 85% of whom were local – on the Maes on Sunday couldn’t fail to see and feel the excitement at the fact that the Eisteddfod had come to their area, that Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Heads of the Valleys Initiative, the Welsh Language Board, and primarily, the National Eisteddfod itself had confidence in the Blaenau Gwent area to bring the festival here.
And with the confidence of hosting the festival comes the confidence of looking forward to the future, a confidence in the ability and aspirations of the people, of communities as a whole, in people’s ability to learn some Welsh, to show an interest in the language and in the culture of Wales, the confidence to make sure that the people of Blaenau Gwent and the Heads of he Valleys remember this Eisteddfod for generations to come, and if this happens, the amount of public money provided to ensure that the festival visits areas like Blaenau Gwent and the Heads of the Valleys will reap its rewards for many years in the future.
Tags: Blaenau Gwent, Eisteddfod, valleys
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22 Comments
“The Eisteddfod contributing between £6-8 million to the local economy during the week.”
If it’s true that’s an impressive number, equivalent to £100 per Blaenau Gwent resident.
What is the research which backs this up ?
I do not believe this for a minute. Ebbw vale town centre has been as quiet as ever, with no signs of any impact apart from shopkeepers’ hopefully hanging up bunting and croeso signs. They are bitterly disappointed. There is a huge risk of over-selling the regeneration effect.
Well it would have been good if somebody had the bright idea of putting a couple of pieces of work of every painter or sculptor exhibiting at the show on the net. This may give some people the idea to travel to see it.
‘Wales greatest mobile regeneration’ ..Silly Arts Council of Wales talk. Regeneration is not done by arts but by business setting up shop and providing work and opportunities. Art comes later when their is money to be spent on such things.
Does anyone have any access to the Eisteddfod accounts ?
The WLGA agreed in 2006 to provide £350k (index linked) on behalf of all the Local Authorities in Wales. So I guess that’s up to £380ish by now.
Clearly there will be income from visitors and from exhibitors (although many of these exhibitors will themselves be public bodies).
Do anyone know if the BBC / S4C pay much for their coverage ?
Apologies if I sound like an auditor – especially given my earlier post – but it’s important to get transparency on the use of public funds. In fairness to S4C, they publish an annual report with full accounts.
I’m not judging the claim one way or t’other but few cand doubt the regeneration POTENTIAL of major events. Maybe there is an argument for the eisteddfod to develop a larger ‘fringe’ which would really drive the regeneration power beyond the maes into local streets and businesses?
Unhappy comments from Ebbw Vale. Apparently no foot access from site to town centre.
http://www.thisismytruth.org/2010/08/ebbw-vale-and-the-eisteddfod/
Maybe it doesn’t matter ?
I don’t think anyone would doubt that the National Eisteddfod is a major cultural part of Wales, and to be honest, that’s probably good enough.
Given the cutbacks that the Arts and Sport except in the new Age of Austerity it is hardly surprising that organisations such as the Eisteddfod should look for every angle to justify the public subsidy. The figure of £6 to £8 million pumped into the local economy was probably plucked out of thin air. The PR team for the Ryder Cup have no doubt already decided on how much financial benefit Wales will get from three days of golf in October. In reality of course the real winners are the organisers of the event and in the case of golf the course where the event is held. It will be interesting to see how much money Celtic Manor make out of the whole Ryder Cup. Day tickets at a £100 and a captive audience prepared to pay for drink and food at exhorbitant prices is something any venue would give its right arm for. As for the effect on Newport and Wales only time will tell. One thing is for sure in the 21st century it is the odd capitalist who will make a decision to invest in an area purely because of three days of golf. The figures for the long term economic benefits of any arts or sporting event are often it seems to me based on the Mussolini school of accounting: think of a number and double it. After all, who is going to check it? The name of the game is to get the good news story in the press and make politicians think twice about cutting your subsidy.
@Domonic – there were events in local pubs, in the town centre etc. Doubt they were official, but there was spinoff.
I don’t think the value of the Eisteddfod is commercial anyway. When it goes away, Ebbw Vale will go back to being Ebbw Vale – although there will be a twinkle in the eyes of the old people, a patriotism in the hearts of the adults, and a spark in the eyes of the young.
It’s like that credit card ad:
Eisteddfod £3 million
Local Spinoff: £6-8 Million
Inspiring the youth: priceless
The Ebbw Vale point is a red herring, particularly in regard to cultural events.
I have been to numerous music festivals across the UK for days at a time, never leaving the site. To argue that somehow we should bemoan that seems to trying to part the waves. You always hear people say ‘we have to make visitors spend more money in the surrounding towns’, but I never hear of any concrete examples of how their whinge turned into a concrete solution.
It was ready made for the Bevan Foundation to make this happen surely? Still nice blog post, really cutting.
Yes, people will oversell it’s affects, but the question the naysayers have to answer is simple…
Would you prefer if Ebbw hosted it or not?
It seems that someone has already made an estimate of the economic benefits of the Ryder Cup to the wider economy in Wales. The figure is £96 million and is mentioned in an FT article regarding sports stars moaning about the amount of tax they have to be pay if they compete in the UK for a few days. I would love to see a breakdown of this £96 million given that the refurbishment of Newport station alone cost £26 million and the new junction to the Celtic Manor over £2.5 million. Throw in the millions that the Assembly has put in over the last 10 years and it doesn’t seem that great a return on public investment. Perhaps someone could find a breakdown of this £96 million. Probably investing in the line from Ebbw Vale to Newport would produce a better BCR score but of course investment in a railway line doesn’t have the same prestige value as three days of golf once in a blue moon.
Jeff – Effective scrutiny like yours is not the sexiest occupation, but it is a vital one.
Marcus – Same point applies. The issue is not whether it benefited Ebbw Vale. it’s rather that we should expect every organisation in Wales, especially one as beloved as the National Assembly to support it’s claims. It matters less whether the figure is £6m, £8m or £2m, what’s important is that there is thorough and robust information.
Jeff – According to WAG, it has contributed over £64m to the hosting of the Ryder Cup.
A full breakdown is here : http://cymru.gov.uk/publications/accessinfo/disclosurelogs/premay10disclosures/dl2400/disclog2498/?lang=en
Alan Trench has written an excellent piece on his blog regarding the need in Wales for an equivalent of the Scottish GERS report which sets out what government actually spends in Scotland and on what. If we had in Wales such a report we can then have a rational debate about priorities. The Scottish government even has its own economist who does produce real forecasts of where he belives Scotland will be in the next few years. In Wales, on the other hand, we have the wing and a pray approach to what the future holds. If anyone criticises any policy then the fall back position isn’t debate. Instead the standard reaction is often to bring into use the sweeping generalisation that the individual is either anti the One Wales coalition or far worse than that is anti devolution and wants to go back to the time of Edward 1.
I was astonished, for example, to read only this week that one of the gems of information unearthed by the Independent Budget Review Group in Scotland was that the carbon emissions targets set by Salmond’s government for 2020 could cost the Scottish government £8 billion. In Wales we often have ministers pushing the same targets with a great fanfare as Wales saves the world from climate change disaster but no one then asks them the real question of what will it cost and where will the money be found.
I’ve always found in life that the best piece of political advice was given by Hans Christian Anderson in the fable of the ‘King’s got no clothes on’. Unfortunately in Wales we have far too many politicians walking through the streets with no policy clothes on and far too few little boys prepared to point out that fact to the voters.
Thanks Martin. What is really interesting is that none of this information seems to have been picked up by the press or exploited by any politician. I suppose it is because everyone believes that it will work wonders for the image of Wales. Just imagine how any Labour politician such a Nye Bevan would have used the information in the first half of the 20th century particularly if it had spent by a Tory government! My late father’s contribution as a young miner in the 1930s to the class struggle was directed at depositing certain interesting items in the holes of the local golf club. When I asked him the rational for this interesting use of human body waste. His answer was that the only people who could afford to play golf were the colliery managers and his mates and it was about time that they got their hands dirty.
Under a Labour Government £64 million.
kind-of drifting OT, but apparently Ebbw Vale was dead during Eisteddfod week:
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/8320722.EISTEDDFOD__Town_business_was_slow_____traders/
I think the £6-8m figure is derived from a study done by a now long gone economic development consultancy on the 2000 Llanelli Eisteddfod which was even at the time open to question (said consultancy being well known for providing what the client wanted). Once you add alcohol on the Maes, the cultural differences between Llanelli & Ebbw Vale & the distance travelled by many attendees (apart from on the Sunday) the figure becomes even more fanciful
Thanks Ben.
Does anyone out there have a copy ?
The independent economic impact research was done by the Cardiff Research Unit at Cardiff Council. A copy is available to download from the National Eisteddfod website. This research believed the impact locally to be £8.2 million. Other research undertaken in Swansea (2006) and Llanelli estimated that the impact was between £6 and £7 million. We have therefore included £6-£8 million as the estimate in this article. The latest annual report and accounts are also available to download from the website. These were ratified at the meeting of the Eisteddfod Court last week.
Thanks Gwenllian – I’m grateful for you uploading the document and for the great article.
Two questions –
First – I see from the research that the total estimate of £8.2 is made up of three types of expenditure:
£2.4m = Spending by visitors whilst on the Maes
£2.6m = The Infrastructure costs of the event =
£3.1m = Actual amount spent by Eisteddfod visitors in Cardiff once they were away from the Maes was estimated.
Is that correct ?
Second – Do you have a figure of the total attendance from last week, and comparative figures for the past few years ?
Had it not been for the £20,000 free tickets from Assembly the Sunday opening would have struggled to
encourage the said ammount of visitors
Shopkeeers and publicans localy were worse off The Eisteddfod caters for all
It is a fact that if every Welsh speaker give £1 a year
to an Eisteddfod fund they would not have to beg from poor communities for support