Enterprise and Business Committee
Inquiry into EU funding opportunities 2014-2020
Evidence from Theatr Cynefin– EUO 06
Siân Phipps
Enterprise and Business
Committee
National Assembly for
Wales
Cardiff Bay
CF99 1NA
30.01.2014
Dear Ms Phipps,
I would like to submit evidence to the Inquiry into EU funding opportunities 2014-2020.
I was only notified of this consultation today and notice that the deadline is tomorrow so I will be brief and to the point.
Theatr Cynefin has been the most consistently successful applicant to Youth in Action funding from Wales over the last 10 years. We have facilitated the participation of hundreds of disadvantaged young people and NEET’s young people from almost every county in Wales in transformative Youth Exchange experiences. We have supported emerging artists to attend our award winning trainings abroad and have hosted seminars and trainings in Cardiff, Llandudno and Aberystwyth almost every year since 2004.
The opportunities afforded by Youth in Action funding were very poorly accessed in Wales compared to Scotland and England and I don’t see how this will change in Erasmus + without some public investment in a body that can support prospective applicants. Very modest funds directed to a body that could engage and mentor new applicants, match appropriate partners, join up outcomes and publicize impacts would give huge social and financial returns and raise the positive profile of the EU project.
The requirement in Erasmus+ for applications to be cross-sector and product oriented only makes this a more essential component of any strategy for accessing EU funding opportunities in Wales. We are a country of small associations and NGO’s that do not have the capacity to raise their proverbial heads from the daily crisis management and take advantage of what could turn out to be the most beneficial and transformative action for their clients or members.
We have referred small organizations to Connect Cymru in the past who have only referred them to the British Council website. This is not good enough! If we are to take advantage of the EU funding opportunities we need to –
Many thanks for the opportunity to submit this evidence. Most of which, because of the time available, is morecircumstantial rather than direct.
Sincerely,
Iwan Brioc
Artistic Director