4. How is the Welsh Government increasing cultural engagement in North Wales? OAQ53889

The Welsh Government recognises cultural engagement impacts positively on well-being and seeks to increase the availability of the cultural offering through various means, including supporting engagement with communities locally and on the heritage and culture that are important to activity in the region.

Diolch. After the Welsh Government commissioned a feasibility study on a national football museum, I said here two years ago that the people of north Wales deserve to have a Welsh national football museum on their doorstep. As I'd also said in the previous Assembly here,  

'Wrexham has an excellent local museum...But people in north Wales can only visit one of the seven free-entry National Museum Wales sites within a realistic 60-mile radius travelling distance, whereas people in Cardiff and Swansea can visit six.'

In supporting a national football museum in Wrexham, I also referred to the illustrious history of Wrexham's Racecourse,

'where the first international match was played in Wales; where the oldest international ground in the world is located; where the Football Association of Wales was formed; and home to...one of the world’s oldest football clubs'

—Wrexham AFC. You issued a statement 12 days ago in writing on the future priorities relating to the feasibility studies on a sport museum and contemporary art gallery, and although the supporter-owned Wrexham football club had previously called for a national football museum to be located within the Racecourse, you stated the consultants' report,

'concluded that developing new facilities at Wrexham Museum would be the best option to... showcase...our football heritage', and that,

'The realisation...lies not...with the Welsh Government and discussions have now begun with the key partners.'

You also referred to a recommendation by the consultants that this be done in partnership with National Museum Wales/Amgueddfa Cymru. So, I'll cut to my question—I'm sorry I've gone on for so long—how will the involvement of National Museum Wales, in your view, work out? Are you proposing that this becomes part of the National Museum Wales or it's a partner arm's-length organisation? And how will this impact on the physical provision within Wrexham museum—a great museum, but quite small in size? So, are you considering relocation or enlargement, or how might you address this?

The intention is that there should be a strong sporting museum in Wrexham. The question of its location is a matter for discussion with the existing Wrexham museum and the Wrexham local authority. Those discussions are still continuing. What I'm keen to ensure is that the sporting activity of Wales is represented in the regions of Wales. So, in north Wales, it would be in Wrexham. There is, I think, an opportunity for further celebration of sporting heritage in St Fagans, apart from the national museum, but the relationship that I envisage, and it's with the agreement of the national museum, should be a relationship where the national museum at its seven or eight sites, if we include Treforest, relate to the regional and local museums in support of their activity and that, when we have national collections, the museums are of sufficient quality—and this applies particularly to contemporary art as much as to sport artefacts—the galleries and museums are of sufficient standard to be able to receive the national collection. And that will require further investment. So, I am still continuing to develop our action plan in relation to both a sport museum and a contemporary art museum in a way that ensures that there will be a distributive model that will work to enable as many people in Wales as possible to see the national treasures.