The National Theatre Wales (NTW) has now formally ceased to exist several months after its £1.6m a year Welsh Government funding was pulled in its entirety. Speaking to BBC News Wales, Naomi Chiffi, who is the head of collaboration at the company, described the loss as “devastating”.
It comes following months of uncertainty after Arts Council Wales announced in September of last year that the company had lost out on all of its funding. The closure means that Wales has lost one of its largest employers of theatre makers, which employed around 645 people at one point.
Now, NTW will transition into a new company called TEAM (Theatre, Engagement, Music, Arts) and will focus on its grassroots work with various communities and educational settings in Wales. Speaking to the BBC, Naomi Chiffi said that the company had “stopped listening”, but following a difficult year of self-reflection, said it was time to “hone in on what [they’re] really good at”.
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“I think we stopped listening,” she told the BBC. “It’s been a very difficult few months to try and get our heads around, but it’s really forced us to look at what we do well and what’s most important to people.” She continued: “I think what we have come to realise now is that it’s maybe time to let the productions happen elsewhere with other people, and hone in on what we’re really good at”.
The company was established back in 2009, with early successes including the groundbreaking Passion play, which starred Port Talbot-born Michael Sheen performing in his hometown in 2011. The performance lasted for three days and attracted around 25,000 spectators.
According to Chiffi, NTW had got “a lot of things wrong”. She said:”What was really successful about the infancy of the organisation was that through models like TEAM, it was really listening to communities, listening to artists, listening to audiences and making work in accordance to that”. She added: “And I think when we stopped listening to the people that we really needed to listen to, and engaging in the way that we could have, we started to make work that maybe wasn’t quite as impactful as it had been in the past.
“I think it all boils down to: are we listening and are we actually responding to what Wales wants and needs. A scheme like TEAM democratises the arts, brings it to people who don’t think the arts is for them and uncovers new talent which is really exciting.”