Arts council appoints acting head

A new boss at the helm of the Arts Council of Wales

The Arts Council of Wales has appointed Frances Medley as its acting chief executive following the resignation of Joanna Weston last week.

Ms Medley was ACW's planning director and was involved in overseeing the corporate planning of the body's £38m budget for the arts in Wales.

Originally from Derbyshire, she was educated at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and Washington State University.

She joined ACW from the National Assembly where she was a senior executive officer in the local government finance division.

"Frances' management experience will prove immediately invaluable to ACW which will be implementing both the restructure recommendations in Richard Wallace's management study and the anticipated outcomes of the National Assembly review of the arts and cultural policy," said ACW's chair Sybil Crouch.

Joanna Weston: Resigned

Last week the organisation accepted Ms Weston's resignation "with regret ".

But it said that in the face of recent criticism, it was important to regain the confidence of the arts community and other partners and Ms Weston's departure will allow it to make a new start.

Ms Weston said she was saddened by the various criticisms, but that she thought it was right that she accepted full responsibility as chief executive.

She had faced heavy criticism over decisions she made since her appointment as head of the council two years ago.

With other senior officers of the body, she withstood votes of no confidence from the staff and faced criticisms of the way a number of high profile decisions were handled.

Theatre contracts

These included the row over the future of the loss-making Centre for Visual Arts in Cardiff which is to close in November.

The row over funding of school theatre contracts was another thorn in the side for the body charged with overseeing the arts in Wales.

But it was a withering report by retired civil servant Richard Wallace which concluded that the council had lost the confidence of those it serves in the arts community and in itself.

The report on the management of the council was commissioned by the Welsh Assembly.

It suggested that senior staff had mishandled a number of high-profile decisions and suggested ways in which to improve the manner in which the council operates.

These include devolving authority to regional committees as well as taking measures to ensure that the council was more "transparent" in its dealings.