Foreword: It would be difficult to imagine Wales without its art. It would be a different place:a lesser, arid place. Instead, it is a place in which the imagination can and does flourish, in literature and painting, in music and theatre, dance and craft, and through the talents of individuals and organisations, professional and amateur, young and old. Yet it is commonplace to suppose that the arts are something for the few, leaving the many to brush against the arts only nervously and infrequently. That is not the story that the facts tell in this publication. In these few pages we have gathered together some headline evidence of the way in which the arts touch our lives in so many ways; evidence of the return to individuals and society from investment in the arts by Government at all levels, by trusts and foundations, by businesses and by an increasingly engaged public. It is evidence of past achievement and, as importantly, future promise – not a dispensable luxury but a necessary, valued way of building and sustaining a better country. Geraint Talfan Davies Chairman Arts Council of Wales To view the report, CLICK HERE.