Cardiff Council’s attempt to cut the city’s cultural treasures faces a huge backlash from artists, performers, historians, ordinary people and even the famous US professor, Noam Chomsky.
By Muskan Arora
The ‘People’s March for Dignity and Culture’ this weekend is set to represent a fierce response to plans to privates St. David’s Hall, end the Museum of Cardiff’s residency in the city and cut back on public library services.
On Saturday, 18 February at 2 pm, the public are being asked to bring a book and gather outside Cardiff Central Library for a mass ‘read-in protest’ before marching through the city in support of its cultural institution.
Protestors will sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to St David’s Hall which marks its 40th anniversary this month. They plan to stop what they say is the gutting of the art and cultural infrastructure of Cardiff by the city’s Labour-run council.
The local authority recently released plans for the running of St. David’s Hall to be handed over to AMG/Live Nation; Museum of Cardiff becoming a mobile attraction and public libraries closing additional days and hiring volunteers to carry out the work of previously paid staff.
Opponent of the plans fear they will not only lead to higher levels of unemployment withing the cultural sector, but also the loss of the city’s, and Wales’, cultural wealth and history.
The protest received a boost this week when world-renowned professor Noam Chomsky, who spoke to a packed-out crowd St David’s hall in 2011, spoke out against its potential privatisation.
“I had the great privilege of speaking at St David’s Hall a decade ago, the kind of public space that is of great value for a live and functioning democratic community,” he said. “It would be a great shame to see it lost to private hands.”
In December, Cardiff Council’s cabinet member for finance, performance and modernisation, Cllr Chris Weaver said that “Just as every household budget across Wales has been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis so too has every service the council provides.”
But opponents reject this comparison, and say that the council must do more to fight ever increasing austerity, instead of just implementing cuts from central government.
In a statement, Cardiff People’s Assembly, who are organising the protest, called on the public to reject the idea of art as a luxury and instead see it as essential:
“The post-war 1945 Labour Government that founded the welfare state, launched the NHS and built three-quarters of a million council homes, also launched the Arts Council. It invested in museums and galleries, festivals and theatres, and public libraries because they understood that the Arts were a central part of the welfare state and they could not only transform individual lives, but our entire society making it a much better, more humane, more joyful place.”
As the Welsh capital faces a cultural crisis, writers and poets have also spoken up to how libraries are a space for “space of safety and silence.”
Menna Elfyn, Welsh language poet and playwright, and President of Wales PEN Cymru echoed her concerns about the healing powers of libraries and books as “we need libraries to liberate ourselves from apathy, loneliness and despair”.
Gwyneth Lewis, the first National Poet of Wales, has also written to Cardiff Council to firmly oppose the cuts to library services and staff.
“I understand that you are under budget constraints but in times of need, libraries become more, not less important as a haven for those who can’t afford to buy their own books. Even the ‘softer’ measures of reducing opening times are a cut by stealth,” said Lewis. “I know from my experience of Cathays Library not being open every day, that it makes it much less attractive as a place to visit.”
Musicians like Elizabeth Atherton have said that the privatisation of St David’s Hall represents a major threat to it status as the National Concert Hall of Wales, where she recalls witnessing “world-class orchestras and soloists bringing their talents to the people of Cardiff.”
“The threat that privatising this unique and irreplaceable venue brings to the music infrastructure in Wales is extremely concerning,” she said. “The Arts ought not to be a luxury to be enjoyed solely by the rich – they should be fostered as an integral part of all of our lives, and government and councils have a responsibility to support them and enable access to as wide a public as possible.”
The protest on Saturday, 18th February at 2pm outside Cardiff Central Library.
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