Labour MS calls for Welsh Government to safeguard Welsh National Opera

Emily Price 

A Labour MS has made a plea to the Welsh Government to intervene and safeguard jobs at the Welsh National Opera and the junior department at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Rhianon Passmore, Member of the Senedd for Islwyn and Chair of the Senedd’s cross-party group on music sponsored a Welsh music showcase in the Senedd last week.

It was attended by senior government ministers including FM Eluned Morgan and culture minister Jack Sergeant.

During the event, Ms Passmore called on them to “urgently rescue” the WNO and the Junior Conservatoire at the RWCMD which are both facing cuts.

Redundancies

WNO management proposals could result in at least a 15% cut to chorus members’ pay, a reduction in contracted hours despite the high workload of performances and rehearsal and a cut to the overall number of chorus members with real threat of compulsory redundancies.

Equity members of the chorus paused strike action last week despite continuing to be concerned about the implications of the management’s current proposals.

Petition

An open letter opposing the job cuts has reached over 1000 signatures.

In May, the families of nearly 400 children studying at the RWCMD received a sudden email to say the college was planning to axe its junior music and drama training.

Such a move will mean the higher education college will be the only conservatoire in the UK without regular junior provision.

A Senedd petition calling for the junior department to be saved has racked up over 10,500 signatures and is currently being considered by the petitions committee.

Ms Passmore said: “I was honoured to host the Welsh music showcase at the Senedd. A celebration of the amazing music of Wales our vibrant artists – performers, educators, and music organisations. Together they develop the next generation of the land of song.

“Despite real investment in the groundbreaking National Music Service, Creative Wales, Ty Cerdd and Anthem – Wales has endured fourteen long years of chronic disinvestment because of the austerity agenda of the Tory UK Government.

“So today – I call upon the Welsh Government to urgently rescue the internationally renowned Welsh National Opera and to protect the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s junior department.

“Wales’s iconic music conservatoire must not be the only conservatoire in the world without a junior department model. Wales – our culture and our youth deserve no less.”