Three arts organisations based in Powys have spoken about their "deep disappointment and shock" after their decades-long funding from the Arts Council of Wales was pulled.

The Hafren theatre in Newtown, Mid Wales Opera and Llandrindod Wells-based dance studio Impelo are among nine organisations from across Wales that were told on Wednesday (September 27) that they will not be offered multi-year funding from 2024/2025 but can continue to apply for other Arts Council of Wales (ACW) funding.

Powys will get the second biggest funding cut - £245,990 or £2 less per person- behind Cardiff following a review which sees the county losing out on more than a quarter of last year's funding.

ACW, which is "aware that there is a gap in north Powys", said its CEO has written to Powys County Council "to work together in order to address the situation".

Mid Wales Opera chair Gareth Williams said: "We are deeply disappointed and indeed shocked at the news that - after 35 years of staging remarkable opera across the length and breadth of Wales - the Arts Council has decided not to offer us multi-annual funding.

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"Obviously, we will be considering our next steps over the coming weeks. This will, however, be a hammer blow for the young artists who gain invaluable career development opportunities from working with us, as well as to audiences in towns and rural communities who have few, if any opportunities to experience live opera.

“However, this decision has no direct impact on our exciting plans for the next few months which are fully funded. We look forward to welcoming audiences from Barmouth to Abergavenny and from Milford Haven to Bangor to our performances of Berlioz's 'Beatrice and Benedict' (from October 13 to November 10) and of Macbeth in February and March 2024'."

Mid Wales' premier entertainment venue The Hafren theatre in Newtown said it was "disappointed that after operating efficiently and effectively for the past 40 years" ACW has decided not to offer funding from next year.

“Obviously, we will be considering the implications of this over the coming few weeks, however, ACW funding was only a part of the funding jigsaw that keeps Hafren able to offer an exciting and entertaining programme to our communities and visitors," a spokesperson said.

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“We envisage that we will be able to keep our invaluable services operating, we have become used to much reduced public funding over the past decade and are therefore able to respond accordingly. 

“We look forward to supporting our community groups and welcoming audiences and participants in the future.”

Impelo’s artistic and executive directors Jemma Thomas and Suzy West said the news had “hit us hard”.

“We are feeling incredible sadness at the Arts Council’s decision not to fund us past April 2024,” the pair said.

“Whilst we let this news land with our staff, dance artists and communities, all projects and programmes will continue over the coming months. We move.”

A spokesperson on behalf of the Arts Council of Wales said: “The Investment Review provides multi-year funding for arts organisations across Wales. We received applications from 139 eligible organisations, and, in the current difficult economic times, we were sadly unable to fund everybody. 

“We are pleased to have been able to make conditional offers to 81 organisations across Wales, but we understand that some organisations will not have received the news they wanted. Every organisation that made an application has received a report and a letter that explains why we have made that decision and their future options.

“Transition support is being made available to organisations that were unsuccessful but are in current receipt of funding, and our letter explains the alternative funding options available to arts organisations in Wales."

“We also have an appeals process, which will be led by an independent reviewer. Because of this, and to respect the confidentiality of the organisations, we can’t comment on individual applications.”