The Welsh Government has published their Final Budget for 2026-27. It contains an increase to culture investment of 7% in cash terms (5% in real terms accounting for inflation). This increase is larger than anticipated from the Draft Budget, and is a welcome update. The overall Welsh Budget has gone up by about 5% in cash terms, so this represents a slightly above-average increase within the Budget overall.
However, there will be no real-terms increase in funding for the Arts Council of Wales, whose grant-in-aid from the Welsh Government will remain 7% smaller in real terms than it was three years ago, in 2023-24.
This new Budget reflects the Welsh Government’s recent Priorities for Culture framework, which acknowledges the importance of arts and culture for wellbeing and everyday life, and emphasises place-based local initiatives.
Taking a longer view, we can see that Welsh arts and culture spending has recovered since the 2024-25 cut, which left a significant scar in the culture budget. Except for that year, in real terms there has been overall growth in culture spending year-on-year in Wales since 2021-22.
The increase in arts and culture spending over the last few years has mainly been driven by increasing spend on ‘Local Culture and Sport’. Some budget lines – namely for the Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru / Museum Wales – have not recovered in real terms since the cuts of 2024-25.
Nonetheless, it is encouraging to see that the increase in overall culture spending is building from a baseline last year that compensated for the funding cut in 2024, rather than only increasing from that reduced budget. This suggests that Wales is moving in the right direction to redress a trough in their budget that left the nation among the lowest in Europe for culture spend.
Jack Gamble, director of the Campaign for the Arts, said:
“It’s encouraging to see the Welsh Government increasing their overall spending on the arts and culture for a second successive year. Especially at this challenging time for many artists, cultural organisations and communities, this extra support really matters. It will make projects and experiences possible which will, in turn, make lives better and society stronger.”
