Welsh solutions to celebrate Wales’ rich sporting heritage and contemporary art

The two studies were published last week and over the past year, consultants have been working on two distinct studies.  The Sport Museum for Wales was presented by Just Solutions while Event Communications worked on the National Contemporary Art Gallery Wales study.

Both sets of consultants spoke with a variety of stakeholders, the recommendations presented within the reports are drawn from those discussions.

The Sport Museum study recommends that there is investment in the current museum at Wrexham, to enable it to establish a National Football Museum for Wales.  It goes on to recommend that a Sporting Heritage Expert Panel for Wales is established to be responsible for establishing a National vision for sporting heritage and an associated framework for action.  Finally, the third recommendation recognises that many other sports in Wales merit attention but there are ways to do this other than creating more museums.

There are three phases to the National Contemporary Art Gallery study, and is a model that can be developed and taken forward in a number of different ways depending upon resources:

Phase 1 is the National Canvas, a co-commissioning of up to one hundred new works across Wales that would sit in the landscape, with artists working alongside local communities.

Phase 2 involves investing in the infrastructure already in place across Wales, providing us with a distributed method of delivery that can open up national collections and new works to audiences across Wales.

Phase 3 is the development of a national contemporary art headquarters, a permanent space serving as a vibrant platform for contemporary art.

The Minister, said:

“Wales is a nation rich in art and culture; our history and heritage are key elements of our character, and how those are expressed through art and sport is always worthy of further discussion and exploration.

This is an excellent opportunity for us to reflect on our successes in these two fields and consider how to adopt a Welsh solution to celebrate our sporting success and give a platform to our modern art.   These studies are the beginning of a journey to finding an exciting Welsh model which will celebrate the best we have to offer and give as many people as possible access to these treasures.

We must ensure everyone can access, enjoy and participate in our rich and vibrant arts and culture.  

It is clear that these actions are not for the Welsh Government alone and further conversations will need to take place.  This report is the start of those conversations and following feedback on the recommendations, a decision on the way forward will be made in early 2019."