CALLING ALL CARDIFFIANS - WHEREVER YOU LIVE! SAVE THE SHERMAN! (This is quite long so if youve only got a minute, go to mytheatrematters - sign up and spread the word.) For those of you who want to know more...read on. Despite having just been refurbished at at cost of £6.5 million and having landed the brilliant Rachel ORiordan as its new Artistic Director, Cardiff Council are proposing to cut £161,000 per year from the Shermans Theatres grant. Cardiff is a thriving hub for film & television production, is home to the outstanding Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the National Theatre of Wales but its Repertory Theatre is under threat. WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? Well, if, like me, you grew up in or around Cardiff, you probably went to the Sherman as a child. You might have seen the Christmas show as a youngster or a set text during secondary school. You may have performed there as part of a Youth Theatre. Even if youre not from there, you may have passed through at some stage in your careers, (no pun intended.) Many of you will have worked there, some of you will have met your partners there, some of you were even married there, (you know who you are.) So ask yourself this? Where will the next generation have to experience all these things? The Millennium Centre? The New Theatre? AND ITS NOT JUST THE SHERMAN. Chapter Arts, No Fit State Circus, Rubsicon Dance and SWICA who organise the Cardiff Carnival are under threat of Arts cuts too. WHY NOT CUT THE ARTS? Well, put simply, because they make money. Every £1 invested in Theatre generates £3. FACT. (Thats a better return than the manufacturing industry. Another fact.) Germany knows this. Even in these austere times, theyve increased their Arts budget by 8%. Why? Because they know that the Arts play an important part in our cultural identity. And theyre not alone. Scotlands Arts minister Fiona Hyslop said recently that despite these challenging times, we do not measure the worth of culture and heritage solely in pounds and pence – we value culture and heritage precisely because they are so much more, because they are our heart, our soul, our essence. SO WHAT CAN WE DO? Something like this happened in Newcastle recently. The Labour council there proposed 100% Arts cuts and closure of the local libraries and swimming pools. Lee Hall, (who wrote Billy Elliot,The Pitmen Painters) shamed them with a letter in The Guardian. It attracted a lot of press, Newcastles famous sons and daughters joined the campaign and the locals backed it to the hilt. In the end, Labours National excecutive overruled the local council and the cuts werent made to the councils arts budget. THATS OUR BLUEPRINT. We need you to spread the word. Tell everyone you know about whats going to happen and ask them to visit MyTheatreMatters to pledge their support for the Sherman and all regional theatres across the country. If you know someone with a public profile, tell them about it and ask them to lend their support. Write to your MP and your AM. Tweet them. The more fuss we make the harder it will be for the council to put their plans into action. Theyll have a fight on their hands. THEY DID IT IN NEWCASTLE - WE CAN DO IT IN CARDIFF. WHY? BECAUSE YOUR THEATRE MATTERS! walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiff-councils-plan-slash-charitable-6129405#
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:56:06 +0000
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