Increasing costs: Impact on culture and sport

The committee’s inquiry in September 2022 sought to ascertain how Wales’ sport and culture sectors are being affected by the cost-of-living crisis, and how Welsh Government could better support them to meet their immediate needs. The principal issues identified include: 

• Largely flat Welsh Government budget allocations in culture and sport have been outstripped by inflation. 
• Participation in culture and sport has not fully recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Individuals have less money to spend, and providers have to increase costs or reduce services to make ends meet.

While the cost-of-living crisis has affected everyone, we are particularly concerned about the impact on Wales’ exhibition sector. Cinemas and arts centres provide warm and welcoming spaces for their local communities but are now struggling to balance significantly increasing costs with decreasing sales. As cinemas across the UK, including Cardiff's Premiere Cinema, close or else have to navigate increasingly challenging times, we must remain vigilante as to how vital exhibition is to the overall film industry ecology. Independent filmmaking depends upon routes through to cinemas.

Throughout the pandemic and continuing into this cost-of-living crisis, Ffilm Cymru Wales has been working with the Arts Council of Wales, Creative Wales and the BFI to provide funding and advice to the individuals and organisations that make Wales’ wonderful screen sector, as well as advocating for more support from UK and Welsh Governments. 

We are pleased to see that the report’s recommendations include: 

• UK Government should provide sports and cultural venues with support with energy costs beyond the six months of the initial scheme.
• Welsh Government should provide capital funding to the sports and cultural sector to green their energy consumption.
• Welsh Government should provide additional targeted funding to the sports and culture sectors to help venues and organisations that face closure but have a sustainable future beyond the immediate crisis.
• Welsh Government should initiate emergency discussions with the UK Government’s Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to call for a UK-wide support package to support the culture and sport sectors in response to cost-of-living pressures.
• Welsh Government should encourage sporting and cultural activities in Warm Hubs, and fund the providers accordingly.
• Welsh Government should improve its engagement with the culture sector to help develop its response to the increased cost of living.