The Arts Council of Wales is primarily concerned with the cultural aspects of film.  We entirely recognise that for this to be sustainable, it must form a part of a wider film ecology in Wales.  Such an ecology has to nurture diverse home-grown creative talents and emerging companies to go out into the world as well as offer the infrastructure and skilled workforce to attract the best international productions to be filmed or based in Wales.

Skills and training

1)        The availability of a suitable skilled workforce in Wales. Are there any gaps?

-     Any training/support required (including the education system).

-     Ffilm Cymru’s suggestion of “re-instating a more focused screen sector training panel”,

-     Ffilm Cymru’s suggestion of more investment in “business support and high-level company training”.

The creative industries are a complex amalgam of creative and technical skills.  We therefore welcome multiple pathways into the creative industries and the work being done to support this from BBC, S4C, Ffilm Cymru, Ffilm Hub Wales and independent businesses such as Bad Wolf.  All have a key role to play in helping to support, recruit and train. But if we are to see a generational shift, we need to be thinking long term; thinking about the type of creative people we need for jobs that haven’t been invented yet, not just the immediate technical skills gaps.

To ensure the widest possible inclusion, this has to start from a young age, in schools and communities. We’d point to our Creative Learning Through the Arts partnership with the Welsh Government’s Education Department as a world-recognised best practice model for this. It’s important that creative learning in schools is continued beyond this project tenure. With this, and the Donaldson curriculum review including expressive arts and digital, we have a once in a generation opportunity to change how and what children learn to reflect the attributes future generations will value and need.

We would also highlight the specific film education and skills development work that Ffilm Cymru Wales, Film Hub Wales, Into Film, Bafta Cymru and the projects they in turn support (such as Wicked and WOW Film) n the ground across Wales.

We also need to work together for the bigger prize.

When Skillset Cymru closed there was no longer a platform for key parties to come together to share best practice, identify areas of collaboration and (or avoid duplication) dovetailing and move on cross-cutting issues like inclusion. The re-establishment of some similar mechanism could facilitate this cross-sector approach; it’s about co-ordination rather than a single solution. A priority has to be making the options and pathways obvious to young people and communicating them clearly.

Arts Council of Wales believes that as well as having the skills and assets to attract the best in the world, we should be supporting our own creative talent to be world class. To that end we would share Ffilm Cymru Wales’s position that we must encourage the growth of creative indigenous companies. These companies need ongoing, bespoke business support until they are fully viable. This is something that Ffilm Cymru Wales is leading on, growing their offer as the companies themselves grow. We see this as fully consistent with Prosperity for Wales, Welsh Government’s Economic Action Plan.

2)        The availability of workforce statistics in Wales.

This was the charge of Skillset Cymru. We believe that a workforce report is expected from Skillset (UK) that will include Wales and efforts are being made by Wales partners to ensure that it is as accurate as possible. Again, this is the kind of work that a steering group might lead on, ensuring that such surveys are fit for purpose in terms of comparison and understanding Wales-specific considerations and such as our language, or sector priorities that might differ from the other nations and regions.

3)        Skillset Cymru

As above, there were some functions of Skillset Cymru as an umbrella body for skills development that were not replaced when funding was removed. Whereas there is a number of delivery agencies that have continued to operate and/or have stepped into pick up on activity.  It is the lack of strategic overview and direction that is most keenly felt.

4)        Screen Alliance Wales.

Screen Alliance Wales is a new organisation that we’ve not worked with directly but our delegates, Ffilm Cymru Wales, already have positive relationship with, looking to collaborate on projects such as Foot in the Door. We welcome businesses in Wales taking responsibility for - and investing in - future skills infrastructure and the particular commitment being made through Screen Alliance Wales to support an indigenous workforce from school to employment.