Culture – at the nation’s heart

Culture is at the heart of our nation’s way of life. It defines us. It is integral to every community. It is essential to our well-being and cohesion as a society. It is also the means by which our diverse identities engage with each other, and by which we engage with the world. The extent to which we recognise all this in a practical way is a measure of a mature and civilised society.

It is for all these reasons that culture and sport – all vital expressions of our history and social traditions, as well as of our future aspirations – at the heart of the full span of public policy and government action in central and local government, in economic development, in health and education, and in our regard for our environment, whether urban or rural. Every department of government will be required to make a positive and material response.

This is what we mean by the fully inclusive cultural strategy that we intend to build and sustain, so as to re-establish the myriad connections and shared experiences that have been threatened by the pandemic, but which, together, make a society.

In the process we will foster the very creativity and innovation that will be critical to the future success of our economy, enabling us to enrich the sense of place in every community, and fulfilling the explicit and implicit aspirations of Wales’s pioneering Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.