Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg/Read this page in Welsh
Ahead of the 2026 Senedd election, Equity is calling for Senedd candidates across Wales to recognise culture is work - and to treat it as essential infrastructure.
The call comes as new research reveals that arts funding has fallen by 46% in Wales since 2010.
The manifesto for Wales calls on candidates to sign up to five pledges aimed at investing in and bolstering culture. The pledges include embedding fair pay and conditions for workers and recognising them as skilled professionals in essential infrastructure.
See the five pledges in full below.
If culture is essential to Wales, then the people who create it must be treated as essential too.
Simon Curtis, Equity's Official for Wales
Alongside the manifesto, Equity has commissioned new research into arts funding which reveals that Wales has seen a 46% fall in arts spending since 2010, losing around £30 million a year for the arts locally. This represents a nearly 50% cut in per capita annual funding on local arts and culture in Wales since 2010, down from £21.03 to £10.85 in 2024/45. Wales fares better than England, which saw a 61% cut down to £6.47 per person, per year, but worse than Scotland, where funding dropped by 18% over the same period, to £20.73 per person, per year. The full data for councils across Britain is available on our Arts Funding Tracker here.
The campaign is supported by an online pledge and email tool, making it easy for members of the public and creative workers to ask candidates to commit to the proposals.
Simon Curtis, Equity’s Official for Wales, said: “Culture is not a luxury – it is work - and it matters to people across Wales.
“The arts, creative and media sectors are part of Wales’s foundational economy — rooted in people, place, and public value. Yet the people who make culture possible through their performing, teaching and creating too often face low pay, insecure contracts, unsafe conditions, and chronic instability.
“A cultural nation cannot be built on insecurity, so Equity’s Senedd manifesto sets out five pledges to ensure culture in Wales is treated as essential infrastructure — funded sustainably, built on fair work, and open to everyone. We are asking candidates to sign up to the pledges and asking voters to raise these issues.”
“If culture is essential to Wales, then the people who create it must be treated as essential too.”
The five pledges
The Five Pledges focus on:
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treating culture as national infrastructure
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increasing long-term investment
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embedding fair work and union voice
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tackling inequality in the sector
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and improving economic security for creative workers
The Five Pledges in full
Treat culture as essential national infrastructure by supporting strong political leadership and democratic control over cultural decision-making in Wales. This includes a Cabinet Secretary for Culture & Arts, further exploration of broadcasting devolution, and ensuring Welsh stories, language, and creative workers are supported locally.
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Pledge 2: Sustainable Investment in Culture
Commit to long-term public investment in culture as part of Wales’s foundational economy. This includes working towards funding equivalent to 0.5% of GDP, supporting a Culture Bill to protect funding from political cycles, replacing “Priorities for Culture” with a properly funded national strategy, and ensuring fair distribution of resources across communities, languages, and artforms.
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Pledge 3: Fair Work and Workforce Voice
Strengthen and embed the Arts, Creative & Media Sector Workforce Social Partnership so fair pay, safe conditions, and trade union standards are a normal condition of publicly funded cultural work. Cultural labour must be treated as skilled professional work, not voluntary or disposable.
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Pledge 4: Equality and Class Justice
Remove structural barriers in the cultural sector by recognising class-based inequality, extending the Socio-Economic Duty to cultural bodies, and strengthening equality standards so creativity is accessible to everyone, regardless of background or income.
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Pledge 5: Economic Security for Creative Lives
Support measures that provide economic security for creative workers, including Universal Basic Income, so freelancers and artists can build sustainable careers and live with dignity in Wales.
The manifesto pledges and sign-up are available on Equity’s Campaign page Senedd 2026 Election: Culture is work.
Mae Equity yn lansio maniffesto “Diwylliant yw Gwaith” ar gyfer y Senedd wrth i ymchwil newydd ddatgelu gostyngiad o 46% mewn cyllid celfyddydau yng Nghymru
Mae Equity, undeb llafur y celfyddydau perfformio ac adloniant, yn galw ar ymgeiswyr y Senedd i gydnabod mai gwaith yw diwylliant — ac i’w drin fel seilwaith hanfodol.
Daw’r alwad wrth i ymchwil newydd ddatgelu bod cyllid ar gyfer y celfyddydau wedi gostwng 46% yng Nghymru ers 2010.
Yn arwain at etholiadau’r Senedd ar 7 Mai 2026, mae Equity wedi lansio maniffesto ar gyfer Cymru, gan alw ar ymgeiswyr i ymrwymo i bum addewid sydd wedi’u hanelu at fuddsoddi mewn diwylliant a’i gryfhau.
Mae’r addewidion yn cynnwys gwreiddio tâl a thelerau teg i weithwyr a’u cydnabod fel gweithwyr proffesiynol medrus mewn seilwaith hanfodol. Gweler y pum addewid yn llawn isod.
Ochr yn ochr â’r maniffesto, mae Equity wedi comisiynu ymchwil newydd i gyllid y celfyddydau sy’n dangos bod Cymru wedi gweld gostyngiad o 46% mewn gwariant ar y celfyddydau ers 2010, gan golli tua £30 miliwn y flwyddyn mewn gwariant celfyddydau gan awdurdodau lleol dros y cyfnod. Mae’r gostyngiad o £64 miliwn y flwyddyn yn 2010 i ddim ond £34 miliwn y flwyddyn yn 2024–25 yn cynrychioli bron i doriad o 50% mewn cyllid blynyddol y pen gan awdurdodau lleol ar gelfyddydau a diwylliant lleol yng Nghymru ers 2010, gan ostwng o £21.03 i £10.85 yn 2024/25. Mae Cymru’n perfformio’n well na Lloegr, a welodd doriad o 61% i lawr i £6.47 y pen y flwyddyn, ond yn waeth na’r Alban, lle gostyngodd cyllid 18% dros yr un cyfnod, i £20.73 y pen y flwyddyn. Mae’r traciwr cyllid celfyddydau llawn ar gael yma.
Cefnogir yr ymgyrch gan addewid ar-lein ac offeryn e-bost, sy’n ei gwneud hi’n hawdd i aelodau’r cyhoedd a gweithwyr creadigol ofyn i ymgeiswyr ymrwymo i’r cynigion.
Dywedodd Simon Curtis, Swyddog Equity dros Gymru:
“Nid moethusrwydd yw diwylliant – gwaith ydyw – ac mae’n bwysig i bobl ledled Cymru.
“Mae’r sectorau celfyddydau, creadigol a’r cyfryngau yn rhan o economi sylfaenol Cymru — wedi’u gwreiddio mewn pobl, lle a gwerth cyhoeddus. Eto i gyd, mae’r bobl sy’n gwneud diwylliant yn bosibl drwy berfformio, addysgu a chreu yn rhy aml yn wynebu cyflogau isel, contractau ansicr, amodau anniogel ac ansefydlogrwydd parhaus.
“Ni ellir adeiladu cenedl ddiwylliannol ar ansicrwydd, felly mae maniffesto Senedd Equity yn nodi pum addewid i sicrhau bod diwylliant yng Nghymru yn cael ei drin fel seilwaith hanfodol — wedi’i ariannu’n gynaliadwy, wedi’i seilio ar waith teg, ac yn agored i bawb. Rydym yn galw ar ymgeiswyr i ymrwymo i’r addewidion ac ar bleidleiswyr i godi’r materion hyn.”
“Os yw diwylliant yn hanfodol i Gymru, yna rhaid trin y bobl sy’n ei greu fel rhai hanfodol hefyd.”
Mae’r pum addewid yn canolbwyntio ar:
- trin diwylliant fel seilwaith cenedlaethol
- cynyddu buddsoddiad hirdymor
- gwreiddio gwaith teg a llais undebol
- mynd i’r afael ag anghydraddoldeb yn y sector
- a gwella diogelwch economaidd i weithwyr creadigol
Y Pum Addewid yn llawn
Addewid 1: Arweinyddiaeth Ddiwylliannol a Rheolaeth Ddemocrataidd
Trin diwylliant fel seilwaith cenedlaethol hanfodol drwy gefnogi arweinyddiaeth wleidyddol gadarn a rheolaeth ddemocrataidd dros benderfyniadau diwylliannol yng Nghymru. Mae hyn yn cynnwys Ysgrifennydd Cabinet dros Ddiwylliant a’r Celfyddydau, archwilio ymhellach ddatganoli darlledu, a sicrhau bod straeon Cymreig, y Gymraeg, a gweithwyr creadigol yn cael eu cefnogi’n lleol.
Addewid 2: Buddsoddiad Cynaliadwy mewn Diwylliant
Ymrwymo i fuddsoddiad cyhoeddus hirdymor mewn diwylliant fel rhan o economi sylfaenol Cymru. Mae hyn yn cynnwys gweithio tuag at gyllid cyfwerth â 0.5% o CMC, cefnogi Bil Diwylliant i ddiogelu cyllid rhag cylchoedd gwleidyddol, disodli “Blaenoriaethau ar gyfer Diwylliant” gyda strategaeth genedlaethol wedi’i hariannu’n briodol, a sicrhau dosbarthiad teg o adnoddau ar draws cymunedau, ieithoedd a ffurfiau celf.
Addewid 3: Gwaith Teg a Llais y Gweithlu
Cryfau a gwreiddio Partneriaeth Gymdeithasol Gweithlu’r Sector Celfyddydau, Creadigol a’r Cyfryngau fel bod tâl teg, amodau diogel a safonau undebau llafur yn norm mewn gwaith diwylliannol a ariennir yn gyhoeddus. Rhaid trin llafur diwylliannol fel gwaith proffesiynol medrus, nid fel gwaith gwirfoddol neu waith tafladwy.
Addewid 4: Cydraddoldeb a Chyfiawnder Dosbarth
Dileu rhwystrau strwythurol yn y sector diwylliannol drwy gydnabod anghydraddoldeb dosbarth, ymestyn y Ddyletswydd Economaidd-Gymdeithasol i gyrff diwylliannol, a chryfhau safonau cydraddoldeb fel bod creadigrwydd yn hygyrch i bawb, waeth beth fo’u cefndir neu incwm.
Addewid 5: Diogelwch Economaidd i Fywydau Creadigol
Cefnogi mesurau sy’n darparu diogelwch economaidd i weithwyr creadigol, gan gynnwys Incwm Sylfaenol Cyffredinol, fel y gall gweithwyr llawrydd ac artistiaid adeiladu gyrfaoedd cynaliadwy a byw gydag urddas yng Nghymru.
Mae addewidion y maniffesto a’r ffurflen gofrestru ar gael ar wefan Equity: Etholiad y Senedd 2026: Diwylliant yw Gwaith
Devolved and local elections 2026 – Register to Vote!
Register to vote so we can put arts funding front and centre of the national agenda.
Senedd 2026 Election: Culture is work
Ahead of May’s Senedd elections, we're asking candidates to back our manifesto calling for culture in Wales to be treated as essential infrastructure.
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