Plaid Cymru would increase spending on the arts and sport every year if the party wins next year’s Senedd election, its culture spokeswoman has said.
A Senedd report, earlier this year, found Wales had the second lowest spending per person on cultural services in Europe and the third lowest on recreation and sports.
Despite a funding increase in the Welsh Labour government’s latest budget, the sector has suffered significant cuts in recent years.
The new spending commitment by Plaid will be outlined by Heledd Fychan in a speech at the Eisteddfod on Friday. The party said its manifesto would explain how it would be funded.
Ahead of her speech, Fychan said culture, the arts and sports would be “central to a Plaid Cymru government’s ambition to create a healthier, wealthier Wales”.
“Not only does that mean increased funding, but a new whole government approach to ensuring culture is at the heart of everything we do,” she said.
According to Plaid, culture plays “a vital role in terms of wellbeing, economic growth and social cohesion” and the party pointed to an Arts Council of Wales report into the economic impact of the arts in Wales which claimed that for every pound spent there was a return of £2.51.
Fychan, who used to work for the National Museum of Wales, added “culture is the heartbeat of Wales”.
“It’s how we tell our stories, preserve our language, celebrate our history, and express our values.
“It connects us with each other, and with the past.”
The Welsh government’s budget for 2025-26 has seen funding for culture, the arts and sport restored to 2023-24 levels.
However, that follows a period of cuts to the sector as the government prioritised frontline services including the NHS.
The Arts Council of Wales, which distributes public money to cultural organisations, has said its revenue was reduced by 40% in real terms between 2010 and 2024.
However, the council welcomed the uplift announced in the latest budget as “a positive signal”.
In its report, “A decade of cuts”, published in January, the Senedd’s culture committee said: “For too long, culture and sport have been treated as ‘nice to haves’, and these sectors have faced a decade and more of funding reductions, which has left them brittle and under-resourced.”
In a separate report, the committee also raised “significant concerns” over whether the culture minister Jack Sargeant “fully appreciates the extent of the pressures the sector is facing”.
Sargeant has previously rejected claims the sector was facing a “crisis”.
“I wouldn’t describe it as a crisis myself”, he said in February, although he acknowledged there were “challenges” which the government would work to overcome.
