Artists call for music manifesto

Bryn Terfel is one of 32 artists who want more focus on music

More than 30 of Wales' music stars have called on the assembly government to write a "music manifesto" for Wales.

Artists, headed by Brit nominees Bryn Terfel and Karl Jenkins, claim pupils learning music face a "lottery".

This week, education inspection body Estyn said music teaching faced an uncertain future after a £17m assembly-back fund was dropped.

The assembly government said it was for local authorities to decide the place of music teaching in their priorities.

Thirty-two high-profile music performers, composers and teachers have put their names to a letter to First Minister Rhodri Morgan, saying Wales needs to maintain its place as a "pioneering nation in the field of youth music".

Signatories include classical artists such as composer Alun Hoddinott, harpists Catrin Finch and Elinor Bennett and the conductor Owain Arwel Hughes as well as the indie rock band Super Furry Animals.

Communal music-making and singing, like sport, instils in young people a sense of togetherness, loyalty and discipline Karl Jenkins, composer

They said they could not stand by while "youth music in Wales stagnates and declines".

The letter condemns the abolition of the assembly government-backed Music Development Fund, which ran from 1999 to 2005, and financed a growth in musical activities by more than 60,000 young people through workshops and master classes.

The fund was ring-fenced to ensure local authorities, which contributed 40% of the money, had to spend all of it on music education provision.

Last year the fund had an additional £1.14m from the assembly but lost its ring-fenced status when it became part of the general funding for Wales' 22 local authorities.

The music fund scheme helped thousands of young people

In a statement, the musicians said: "The extent to which this funding is allocated to music is very much in the hands of individual councils and as such has become a lottery.

"This has had a profoundly destructive effect on youth music."

Composer Karl Jenkins said his career, which had "exported Wales around the world", would not have happened without the "wonderful and supportive music education I had as a boy at Gowerton Grammar School".

He said: "Music education, and free music education at that, was seen as being fundamental to an enriched and cultured life, regardless of the fact as to whether one chose music as a career or not.

"Quite apart from the enrichment that it brings to one's life, communal music-making and singing, like sport, instils in young people a sense of togetherness, loyalty and discipline."

'Positive impact'

Estyn's report, published on Monday, said the end of the funding programme may leave many local authorities unable to support music programmes at levels which have brought success.

It said nearly all of Wales' 22 local authorities have made cuts in their music service provision.

A Welsh assembly government spokeswoman welcomed Estyn's report, claiming it showed the fund had been "clearly successful".

She said the transfer of the fund to local authorities' direct control meant it was for them to decide what music services to offer in their area "based on their understanding of local needs and priorities".