Union urges Senedd candidates to back arts after 46% funding cut

A performing arts and entertainment union has called for Senedd candidates to pledge their support for the arts after research revealed funding in Wales has fallen by 46% since 2010.

Equity has launched a manifesto for Wales ahead of the Senedd elections on 7 May, urging candidates to sign up to five pledges aimed at investing in and bolstering culture.

The pledges include embedding fair pay and conditions for workers and recognising them as skilled professionals in essential infrastructure.

Alongside the manifesto, Equity has commissioned new research into arts funding which reveals that Wales has seen a 46% fall in arts spending since 2010, losing around £30 million per year in local council arts spending over the period.

The drop from £64m a year in arts spending in 2010 to just £34m a year in 2024-25 represents a nearly 50% cut in per capita annual funding by local authorities on local arts and culture in Wales since 2010, down from £21.03 to £10.85 in 2024/45.

Wales fares better than England, which saw a 61% cut down to £6.47 per person, per year, but worse than Scotland, where funding dropped by 18% over the same period, to £20.73 per person, per year.

The full data for councils across Britain is available on Equity’s Arts Funding Tracker here.

The campaign is supported by an online pledge and email tool, making it easy for members of the public and creative workers to ask candidates to commit to the proposals.

Simon Curtis, Equity’s Official for Wales, said: “Culture is not a luxury – it is work – and it matters to people across Wales.

“The arts, creative and media sectors are part of Wales’s foundational economy — rooted in people, place, and public value. Yet the people who make culture possible through their performing, teaching and creating too often face low pay, insecure contracts, unsafe conditions, and chronic instability.

“A cultural nation cannot be built on insecurity, so Equity’s Senedd manifesto sets out five pledges to ensure culture in Wales is treated as essential infrastructure — funded sustainably, built on fair work, and open to everyone. We are asking candidates to sign up to the pledges and asking voters to raise these issues.”

“If culture is essential to Wales, then the people who create it must be treated as essential too.”

The Five Pledges in full are:

• Pledge 1: Cultural Leadership and Democratic Control

Treat culture as essential national infrastructure by supporting strong political leadership and democratic control over cultural decision-making in Wales. This includes a Cabinet Secretary for Culture & Arts, further exploration of broadcasting devolution, and ensuring Welsh stories, language, and creative workers are supported locally.

• Pledge 2: Sustainable Investment in Culture

Commit to long-term public investment in culture as part of Wales’s foundational economy. This includes working towards funding equivalent to 0.5% of GDP, supporting a Culture Bill to protect funding from political cycles, replacing “Priorities for Culture” with a properly funded national strategy, and ensuring fair distribution of resources across communities, languages, and art forms.

• Pledge 3: Fair Work and Workforce Voice

Strengthen and embed the Arts, Creative & Media Sector Workforce Social Partnership so fair pay, safe conditions, and trade union standards are a normal condition of publicly funded cultural work. Cultural labour must be treated as skilled professional work, not voluntary or disposable.

• Pledge 4: Equality and Class Justice

Remove structural barriers in the cultural sector by recognising class-based inequality, extending the Socio-Economic Duty to cultural bodies, and strengthening equality standards so creativity is accessible to everyone, regardless of background or income.

• Pledge 5: Economic Security for Creative Lives

Support measures that provide economic security for creative workers, including Universal Basic Income, so freelancers and artists can build sustainable careers and live with dignity in Wales.

The manifesto pledges and sign-up are available on Equity’s website Senedd 2026 Election: Culture is work.