Film and TV in Wales

There was a big article in Wales Online (the Western Mail) in March, summarising the progress made in Wales in atrracting work to the new big TV / film studies mostly in the Cardiff area. Big Wolf features large.....

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/how-wales-built-itself-film-14387598

No problem with any of that, and indeed a vibrant film and TV industry does bring jobs and cash into the Welsh economy (although we seldom see the balance sheet comparing investment / grant aid from the Welsh government -- ie the taxpayer --set alongside measurable economic benefits.)    The costs are very high indeed -- and we must all hope that the benefits are even higher!

From the comments of people interviewed, there is still a strong undercurrent of concern about the emphasis on making film and TV for a global / network market while programming ABOUT Wales and FOR Wales is dramatically under-represented and seemingly largely ignored.  People will continue to grumble about that.

London Book Fair and other matters

Here's an extract from Gary Raymond's article of a few days ago in the Wales Arts Review -- expressing pleasure at the Welsh presence in the London Book Fair.  That's something we can all agree with!

He also touches on the troubles afflicting the Welsh Academy, for which he might just share some of the blame, since he had been on its management board for a year.  (He refers to himself, quaintly, as a "Director", but let that pass.)  He grumbles about members of the Academy airing their grievances about the state of literature in Wales and its publishing industry.  Well, we saw all too clearly from the  events linked to the Medwin Hughes Report that there are powerful factions in the literary scene in Wales,  and I agree with Gary that some of the comments made on the record (not just by writers but by certain employed officers as well) were very aggressive -- indeed Literature Wales had to be ticked off by Minister Ken Skates for its somewhat intemperate language.  So it is clearly not all sweetness and light out there.  So what would Gary have Academy members do?  Shut up and pretend that all is wonderful in the rose garden?  I'm sure that the last thing he would want is a crowd of passive and impotent writers who express no views at all on the state of their industry, and allow themselves to be directed at all times by a number of "professionals" who do not even have to make a living from writing things.

Anyway, happy to pass this on:

http://www.walesartsreview.org/wales-the-london-book-fair/

For the first time in a few decades Wales has a unified national presence at the London Book Fair, and it is immediately obvious it makes all the difference. This is not a single publisher, one little red face vying for attention in a poppy field of enthusiastic do-or-die red faces, but a representation of a national literature – not just books, but an idea, a culture. A slew of the Welsh publishers, along with facilitators such as the British Council, Literature Wales, Arts Council Wales, and the Welsh Books Council, have all come together to put their shoulders to the wheel to make this happen. And in the three days the stall is a hive of activity. Publishers, writers, dignitaries come and go, some are scheduled visits, but most are not. The London Book Fair is a branding exercise, it is about marketing, it is three days of taking meetings and exchanging pamphlets and catalogues, and dealing out honed pitches like playing cards, but the value of having a national hub was clear – the focus was on Welsh literature as a brand.

The importance of the Fair, of being here, has been weighed up by the beancounters of most organisations present. It is not an inexpensive venture, and whereas Harper Collins may not have to worry too much about cost, the value of being here may be up for discussion. For the organisers of the Wales stall, it was certainly a risk. But it is impossible not to have experienced Wales at the London Book Fair and decide this is where our country must be, this is the mix, this is a seat at the table, this is the party that stops people asking, “sorry, where?”

If Wales was ever guilty of an insular, suspicious attitude in its marketing of “the arts” then it’s an attitude that over the last few years has been resolutely cast aside. Outreach projects, international showcases, branding exercises – these terms might send shivers down the spine of some people with certain ideas of what an artist should be, but they are, at the very least, pro-active modern attempts to remedy immediate and potentially devastating modern problems. Although individuals made this work, each with their own reasons for doing so as well as a collective one, there were no poster boys or Court favourites, no elites, no conspiracies or hidden agendas, this was Welsh literature of the past, present and future, being presented as a phenomenon on one of the most influential platforms in the world. And rather than being condescended to, or dismissed, or rubbished, as some in Wales fear is the destiny of any Welsh person who sets foot over the Severn Bridge, Wales was embraced and discussed on a level with every other nation present.

A few days later, in a hotel in Aberystwyth, the Welsh Academy (the national society for writers in Wales) hosted an emergency general meeting to decide its future. In the year I have been a Director of this esteemed organisation, I have been surprised to find it now sits notably as a collective of individuals rather than as a unifying body, the most vocal of whom, it could be argued, use it to air their grievances (much of it personal and some of it simply egomaniacal) about the state of literature in Wales and its publishing industry. The future of the Academy after Saturday’s meeting seems somewhat brighter than it did on Friday, but the future health of Welsh literature will largely rest not with writers unions and forums (important as they are), but with collegiate efforts to brand our writing as something attractive in a modern fast-paced professional industry. Wales’ Minister for Culture Dafydd Elis-Thomas gave a speech to a packed stall on the Thursday, and enthusiastically endorsed the venture after a morning of meetings and tours, and pledged that not only must Wales maintain such a presence at the London Book Fair in future, but that it must look to heighten and push its ambitions in these arenas. (Frankfurt, maybe?). For now, in uncertain times, one thing is certain: anything less than the London Book Fair is a step backwards.

Now we just have the editing.......

This is a perfect illustration of what I feel like when I have completed ten chapters of a new book.........

Preseli from Waun Mawn

A case for PEN Cymru?

I was having a look at the PEN Cymru web site, as I do occasionally, and I was struck when I came across the following words:

"PEN promotes literature and defends freedom of expression. It campaigns on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned, harassed and attacked for what they have written.”

http://walespencymru.org

Contact: walespencymru@gmail.com

PEN exists to stop the suppression of free speech and harrassment etc mostly in other countries with harsh regimes — and it would be very silly to pretend that we in Wales  are seriously persecuted, when writers in many other countries are sometimes imprisoned or even killed for seeking to maintain their basic right to freedom of expression.

http://www.welshpoetry.co.uk

That having been said, where does intolerance stray over into intimidation and persecution?  Where is the top of the slippery slope?  The case which I highlighted in a previous post may seem very mild by comparison with what is happening in Turkey and other countries, but the organizers of the Welsh Poetry Competition are clearly being pressurised by Literature Wales to have nothing to do with web sites that may contain material which LW happens to dislike.  There is clearly an attempt to interfere in matters which are none of its business, and to discourage or even prevent freedom of expression within the literary community.

http://brian-angelmountain.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/the-sad-little-world-of-literature-wales.html

I wonder what would happen if the organizers of the competition entered a formal complaint about Lit Wales trying to suppress public scrutiny and free speech within Wales? 

  

The mountain is looking good......

I had a delightful stroll up on the mountain this morning, accompanied by a group of rather friendly and inquisitive mountain ponies.  And the sun shone for part of the time!  Has spring sprung at last?

The sad little world of Literature Wales

I was disappointed (but maybe not entirely surprised) when I heard not so long ago that a well-known international literary competition organized within Wales had been refused any support from Literature Wales when the organizers asked for some help with publicity.  The competition is not funded by Literature Wales, and is entirely self-financing.  The organizers were perfectly within their rights to ask for information to go out in LW newsletters and through social media;  after all, it is one of LW's responsibilities to facilitate and encourage literary activity across the board in Wales.

LW flags itself up (on its own website) as the national company for the development of literature in Wales. It claims to be responsible for leading the sector and for actively collaborating with organisations and individuals who contribute to the promotion, creation and enjoyment of the written word.   It also refers to itself as "the literature promotion agency for Wales" -- and agencies are supposed to take actions in support of others rather than simply concentrating on self-promotion.  Its role, in other words, is to facilitate and stimulate literature programmes and events throughout Wales, whether or not LW is the originator, organizer or funder of those events.

So why should LW refuse to support and promote a long-established and successful literary competition? I have now done some research, and have discovered that support has been refused on the grounds that the competition's website " links to blog posts which are extremely negative towards Literature Wales."   I am also assured that a letter from LW includes the following:  "As I'm sure you can appreciate, while we support the competition itself, we cannot justify promoting it through our channels while it leads its audience to articles showcasing one-sided perceptions about our organisation.  We would, of course, reconsider if the competition website removed these links."

This is a truly chilling scenario. Blackmail.   I have looked at the website in question, and it probably contains links to more than a hundred other web sites and blog sites relating to literary activity in Wales.   I certainly do not have the time to look at all of them in order to decide which of them are "positive" towards Literature Wales and which of them may not be.  However, somebody within Literature Wales has obviously found the time to do it, and has decided that some of the articles featured "showcase one-sided perceptions" about LW. 

This is all a bit rich.  For the last nine months or so LW has been involved in a massive "charm offensive",  flooding social media,  the press, radio and TV with "good news" stories about the wonderful things which the organization and its staff are doing across Wales and further afield.  You do not have to be a genius to work out that this intensive media activity is a direct response to the criticisms of the Medwin Hughes Panel, which reported to Minister Ken Skates in the summer of last year and which called out LW for its perceived poor governance, its tendency to spend most of its income in-house, its lack of a clear focus, its involvement in many areas that have only the loosest of links to its core functions, its duplication of functions already undertaken by the Welsh Books Council and other organizations, and its shift away from an "enabling and facilitating" role into a new role as a provider of services and an organizer of events. These were very serious criticisms, as a result of which the Panel suggested that many of the LW functions should be taken away from it and handed over to WBC and maybe Visit Wales as well.  There was also criticism of LW's arrogance and sense of entitlement.  It also has to be said that the comments made by the Medwin Hughes Panel were not new or especially derogatory;  they were also made by many correspondents who participated in the Panel's broad-based consultation process.  Those comments are all on the record.  Literature Wales's response to the criticisms directed towards it was more than a little petulant and aggressive, and it spilled over into very personal attacks on the integrity and expertise of the Panel members.  This resulted in a very direct rebuke from Minister Ken Skates.

So the propaganda put out by LW about itself and its achievements is not exactly broad-based and balanced.  It does what propaganda always does --it extols the virtues of the organization, sees everything through rose-tinted spectacles, and fails to mention any of its shortcomings.  LW has become very expert at the spreading of "one-sided perceptions"............

LW now apparently refuses to support a bona fide and well-established literary competition on the basis that some of the comments on some of the linked web sites do not meet with its approval.  Let's be clear about this.  LW has absolutely no right to get involved in censorship and blackmail or to decide unilaterally that certain web site and blog entries are "one-sided perceptions."  I dare say the writers of those entries, wherever they may be, would claim that they are fact-based and involve fair comment, regardless of whether LW may be upset about what they say.  There is after all this thing called freedom of speech -- and organizations and individuals have every right to scrutinise and if necessary criticise bodies (such as LW) which are in receipt of millions of pounds of taxpayer's money. 

This all says a lot about the sad little world inhabited by the staff and the directors of Literature Wales.  If they cannot handle scrutiny and constructive criticism, they don't deserve public trust -- and the organization which they represent should be wound up.  Something better should be put in its place, involving a clearer focus, less duplication of effort, and a greater responsiveness to the needs of the writing community.  So we should probably cry for Literature Wales.  Or maybe laugh.

One last thought.  I almost put this heading on this blog post:  "The Orwellian World of Literature Wales."  Here, by way of explanation, is an extract from that fount of all wisdom and compendium of literary gems, Wikipedia:

"Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. It denotes an attitude and a brutal policy of draconian control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth (doublethink), and manipulation of the past, including the "unperson"—a person whose past existence is expunged from the public record and memory.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwellian

Once again, just think about it. A brutal policy of draconian control?  That's not so wide of the mark.  LW sees itself as THE organization controlling the Welsh literary scene, and as it has developed its very ambitious expansion programme it has created a situation dominated by patronage and dependency in the writing community.  I have already commented on this:

http://brian-angelmountain.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/literature-wales-and-cultivation-of.html

Literature Wales is already well known for its extensive use of self-promotion and propaganda, for spreading misinformation and making rather selective use of the facts of the matter, and for assisting in the denial of the truth about all sorts of things including the value for money associated (for example) with its bursaries programme or its own annual accounts.  Now it has added to its portfolio of dodgy dealings the little matter of surveillance.  Somebody in the organization must have been briefed to scrutinise the links on other "literary"web sites for anything subversive or which strays from the party line.  We might assume that its strategy henceforth is one of supporting only those organizations which have no links whatsoever with any persons or organizations  deemed guilty of saying less than complimentary things about LW.

Just think about it, and feel the chill.

By the way, the Medwin Hughes Panel Report is here:

http://gov.wales/topics/culture-tourism-sport/media-publishing/publishing/support-for-literature-review/?lang=en