We do discuss with the arts council how we can combine this support. It has been noted that the council will continue to extend its resilience programme—or 'gwytnwch' in Welsh if you prefer. This programme does provide business support as well as governance support to key arts organisations to meet their individual needs. We are also eager to assist Arts & Business Cymru to continue the work to encourage corporate sponsorship and to encourage more people to become involved with the arts in all ways possible. I have asked officials to arrange partnerships where some of the core funding of Arts & Business Cymru will be based on the level of additional investment they secure for the broader arts sector. But we are still verifying that proposal at the moment. But I think that the concept of giving encouragement to Arts & Business Cymru and to reward them for their success in achieving funding is a very useful principle, and I very much hope that we will be able to retain funds in next year's budget specifically for that.

The report also asked us to raise awareness of Welsh arts institutions and the investment that trusts and foundations across the UK make in those organisations. We have tackled this in a number of different ways. We have asked the arts council to take the strategic lead. They have already held two days of meetings in London with representatives of major foundations within the UK, and these days have been so popular that they will lead to further events in Wales too.

In addition to that, Arts & Business Cymru has been organising a symposium to give face-to-face advice to arts organisations on how best to make successful applications for funding. In the most recent symposium, there were four trusts from London who had contacted Arts & Business Cymru in order to arrange similar events themselves. I will also be contacting the main trusts and foundations throughout the UK to ask for their support in taking this recommendation forward, and will invite others who are specialists in introducing successful bids and applications to the various trusts and foundations to share their experiences more broadly too.

The report also asks us to develop a strategy to assist the arts sector to develop international markets, to commission research, in order to earmark those markets that have the greatest potential for expansion, and to ensure that the cultural element is prominent in overseas trade missions. We warmly welcome this. Following a change in our relationship with the European Union, Wales must develop a new story to convey our international work, along with the European Union, of course. That follows the vision statement that we received in ‘Light Springs through the Dark’, and the emphasis on how important it is that people take an interest in culture in order to clearly demonstrate that we are a contemporary, outward-looking nation, and a nation that people should visit in terms of tourism, and where people can do business.

In July, while speaking to an international arts forum in Cardiff, I had an opportunity to challenge the key agencies, including the British Council in Wales, the arts council and the books council, as well as museums and galleries Wales, to work with us within Welsh Government in order to tackle this intention to improve cultural and economic outputs in our international activities. The response to that has been extremely positive, and there will be a further meeting soon to develop this work. 

As the committee emphasised, having specialist information on fundraising is crucial, particularly for smaller arts organisations. In this regard, it’s important to remind any arts company or any arts business that the support that we provide through Business Wales is available to them too. These services are available to smaller arts organisations to assist them with marketing, to take advantage of intellectual property and so on and so forth. But we do accept that more specialist assistance is needed in some aspects of fundraising, and the arts council once again is tackling this issue. And the council will soon announce plans to help smaller organisations to develop and to fundraise, particularly for those not in receipt of core funding within the arts council’s plans.

The Arts Council for Wales has also provided lottery funding to Arts & Business Cymru in order to develop a programme of creative interns to train new professionals in fundraising. They will also be supporting bursaries in the National Arts Fundraising School, and the council has also created a briefing pack on fundraising for the first time. This work will be developed and the materials will be available soon.

And finally, I come to my favourite, yet to be fully established body, which is Creative Wales, Cymru Greadigol, and the committee has quite rightly asked us to explain the objectives and how Creative Wales, Cymru Greadigol, will be established. It will be established as an internal agency within Welsh Government, corresponding, but not following the exact model in terms of its internal arrangements, to Cadw and Visit Wales. We are currently appointing members to an advisory board, and this new agency will be expected to work in close partnership with the arts council, and the council welcomes that, of course.

We believe that Creative Wales, Cymru Greadigol, will be an organisation that will be able to develop the economic potential more fully in the creative sector. And I do hope that that responds to the valuable recommendations made by the committee. Thank you.