Arts and museums need help to raise cash, AMs say

St Fagan's National Museum of History is among the sites operated by National Museum Wales

Museums and arts organisations need more help if they are to survive with less money from the taxpayer, a committee of AMs has warned.

Ministers have told the sector it should increase its self-generated income rather than rely on grants.

The assembly's culture committee said organisations needed help to develop fundraising skills.

But they also said private funding for the arts was heavily skewed towards the south east of England and London.

Arts funding has been frozen in Wales until 2020.

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"Wales is not blessed with large numbers of high net worth individuals and few major companies have their headquarters here," said culture committee chairwoman Bethan Sayed.

"The ironic situation is that arts organisations may need additional public sector support to reduce their reliance on public sector funding.

"In particular, they may need more help to develop the fundraising skills they need and to seek out new sources of revenue."

In 2018-19, the Welsh Government is giving the Arts Council of Wales £31.2m, with £21.84m going to the National Museum of Wales and £3.65m to the Welsh Books Council.

The committee said the Welsh Government should continue to provide money to organisations such as Arts and Business Cymru, which encourages businesses to invest in the arts.

Arts and Business said it received around £70,000 of public funding a year, but secured £1m of investment in the arts.