Swansea people have told the council to stop leaning on Dylan Thomas and start putting real money into the city’s arts, music and culture.
What they’ve got back is a five-year plan with no budget attached.
The council’s new Culture Strategy admits people think the city’s cultural offer “suffers from a lack of investment and recognition”, leaving “huge, untapped potential”.
Some residents vented their “frustration” at what they saw as a tendency to focus “too heavily” on the past, singling out the legacy of Dylan Thomas.
Swansea’s small gig venues ‘particularly exposed’
It’s the city’s grassroots venues the strategy is most worried about. It says they’re “particularly exposed” to rising costs, changing habits and shrinking national support.
Its ideas include cultural pop-ups in empty shops, a Grassroots Music Partnership Board, new heritage trails and making Y Storfa a hub for volunteers.
The council has already promised grassroots music venues a cut of the fees from next summer’s Singleton Live concerts.
No new money in the Swansea Culture Strategy
The strategy puts no new money on the table.
The council says the plan is about getting organisations pulling in the same direction and building “the case for future investment from national bodies and other funders”.
Five Swansea venues did share £602,000 of Welsh Government arts cash this month, including £250,000 for a new lift at the council’s own Glynn Vivian Art Gallery.
The dates and costs of the strategy’s 26 actions are still to be worked out by eight partnership groups.
Litter, potholes and street art: what young people want from Swansea
Young people told the consultation that culture starts with a clean, safe city centre. They want less litter, pollution and potholes, and more green space, street art and events.
Asked for three words to sum up Swansea’s culture, people went for creativity, a warm welcome and variety, but also “underappreciation” and “untapped cultural potential”.
More than 400 people filled in the first survey, and over 100 took part in workshops and interviews run by consultants Counterculture.
Elliott King: ‘This strategy is ultimately about people and communities’
The strategy was launched at the Swansea Grand Theatre. Local creative collective Grand Ambition put on a performance to mark it.
Cllr Elliott King, cabinet member for culture, said: “Culture helps us celebrate who we are, brings people together, improves wellbeing, creates opportunities and strengthens pride in the places where we live.”
He said the young people who performed at the launch “represent a new generation of artists, performers, creators and community leaders who will help shape Swansea’s future”.
The strategy also commits to delivering the city’s 10-year events plan, whose draft admitted in June that the Wales Airshow is Swansea’s only established “destination event”.
The full Culture Strategy 2026-2031 is on the council’s website.
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