## Summary: The State of Music, Culture, and Youth Opportunities in Cardiff **News Title:** What Is Really Happening To Music, Culture & Young People’s Future In Cardiff? **Author:** SC Cook **Publication:** voice.cymru **Date of Publication:** July 11, 2025 (Article published July 13, 2025) **Topic:** Culture, Music, Youth Engagement This article critically examines the impact of large-scale "mega concerts" like Blackweir Live on Cardiff's cultural landscape, particularly concerning its effects on young people and the grassroots music scene. The author, SC Cook, argues that while these events, such as the recent four-show run in Bute Park culminating in Stevie Wonder, bring celebrated artists to the city, they are indicative of a broader trend of privatization and a decline in accessible cultural offerings for young people. ### Key Findings and Concerns: * **Privatization of Public Space:** The Blackweir Live event in Bute Park, which had a 35,000-person capacity, utilized a significant portion of the park, including a community woodland. This led to local opposition due to accusations of mature trees being felled, a lack of consultation, and tickets going on sale before permission was granted. The author criticizes the "privatization of land" for such events. * **Economic Impact vs. Local Benefit:** Cardiff Council claims Blackweir Live is "expected" to generate a spectator spend of **£35 million**. However, the article highlights that it's unclear how much of this directly benefits the city, with much likely going to promoters (Cuffe & Taylor, owned by Live Nation, and Depot Live) and operational costs. The council has deemed the direct financial return to the city as "commercially sensitive information." * **Decline of Grassroots Music and Culture:** The article contrasts the proliferation of expensive mega-concerts with the struggles of local venues. * **Full Moon** closed due to cost pressures. * **Porters** has resorted to crowdfunding for survival. * These smaller venues are crucial for nurturing new talent and providing affordable nights out for young people, who cannot afford the **£100+** cost of major concert tickets. * **Impact on Youth Services and Activities:** * The **Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama** axed its junior music program, affecting around **350 young people**. * **Cardiff University** significantly cut its School of Music. * In **2023**, Cardiff Council cut the arts budget by approximately **£1.9 million**. * Vital music in schools programs faced cuts of **£8 million**. * Public facilities like libraries, museums, sports facilities, and youth centers have been closed, reduced, or are no longer free. * **St David's Hall**, a major cultural asset, has been closed for months. * A local basketball court in Roath Park, used by hundreds of young people weekly, is in disrepair with the council failing to respond to repair requests, suggesting a lack of private profit motive hinders maintenance. * Public tennis courts are now locked and require payment to Tennis Wales. * Swimming lessons are no longer part of the school curriculum, with parents facing **£30-£40 per month** for private tuition. * The **Red Dragon Centre**, offering affordable entertainment like bowling and arcade games, is set to be replaced by a large arena for more mega-events, making it inaccessible for most. * **Concentration of Power:** There's a growing trend of live music concentrating in major venues and in the hands of multinational promoters like Live Nation, often to the detriment of smaller, independent offerings. This can also lead to censorship, as seen with the cancellation of Bob Vylan's concert at Manchester's Radar festival. * **Lack of Free/Cheap Activities for Youth:** The article emphasizes a "chronic lack of free or cheap things for young people to do," contributing to their reliance on social media. ### Positive Examples: * **Tafwyl:** A free Welsh language festival in Bute Park is praised for utilizing public space for "real public good" and providing memorable experiences for young people. * **Sŵn festival** is also mentioned as a positive example. ### Conclusion and Recommendation: The author concludes that while Blackweir Live itself isn't solely to blame, the "growing corporatisation of music and culture" and local government's embrace of this model are major contributors to the crisis in youth cultural engagement. The article implicitly calls for a re-evaluation of public space usage and a greater investment in accessible, affordable cultural and recreational opportunities for young people in Cardiff, questioning the prioritization of profit-driven mega-events over community well-being. The core demand is for a city that "genuinely works for the young people growing up in it."
What Is Really Happening To Music, Culture & Young People’s Future In Cardiff? -
Read original at News Source →Reading Time: 6 minutesAs Blackweir Live comes to an end, SC Cook takes a deeper look at what the Welsh capital offers to young people in terms of music and culture, and asks who benefits from an ever increasing programme of mega concerts. This summer it feels like we’ve passed some kind of milestone with Bute Park, Cardiff’s big beautiful stretch of trees, water and wildlife.
Every year the park is host to all sorts of events from flower shows to life size dinosaur exhibits that effectively privatise the land. These usually go off without too much of a mention, but this year is different. The reason for this is the expansive spectacle of Blackweir Live, a run of four huge live shows culminating in the legendary Stevie Wonder.
The area taken up for these concerts comprises a huge field and community woodland in the centre of the park, with a 35,000 person capacity. Local opposition has been strong, from accusations that mature trees were felled for the event to objections that no consultation was held and tickets went on sale before permission was even granted.
The sight of huge fences cutting off access to the park and effectively destroying one of its most attractive sections for weeks has understandably generated a fierce backlash. Now let’s just say to start with that the sight of Stevie Wonder coming to Cardiff was incredible. Many people living in Cardiff and beyond will have come to marvel at his set, as well as that of Alanis Morisette and others.
Cardiff Council say that the grassroots music scene will benefit from the existence of these mega concerts, but given the experience of the past few years – can we really believe this? This risks making any criticism of Blackweir Live seem like the preoccupation of total killjoys, in opposition to music lovers who just want to have a good time.
Personally, I am in favour of more music and more noise filled summer nights in our capital city. This is not about saying people shouldn’t be able to hear Superstition or Ironic sang live in Cardiff’s open air (they definitely should!). It’s about looking at our cultural space as a whole and asking who profits from an ever expanding programme of privatisation.
For their part, Cardiff council put a great spin on all of this, saying that the Blackweir Live events are ‘expected’ to generate a spectator spend in the region of £35 million. This amount is difficult to pin down – some of it will go on wages, some on overheads and a lot into the accounts of the promoters.
The council are much more tight-lipped about how much money they will get directly from the events, telling voice.cymru that the amount is commercially sensitive information. So we have no idea how much the firms running the event – Cuffe & Taylor (owned by Live Nation) and Depot Live- will make, or how much of it will come back to the city.
Meanwhile, we have something of a crisis when it comes to our grassroots cultural spaces.In November last year, Cardiff’s Full Moon announced its sudden closure due to cost pressures. Others, such as Porters, have been forced to crowdfund for their survival. These are the kinds of places that not only nurture new talent but are affordable nights out, especially for young people who struggle to pay the £100+ cost of major concert tickets.
In their PR for Blackweir Live, Cardiff Council say that the grassroots music scene will benefit from the existence of these mega concerts, but given the experience of the past few years – can we really believe this? Aferall, smaller venues have been suffering at the same time as far more exclusive and expensive events have proliferated in the city.
Across the board there is a growing trend of live music becoming more concentrated in major venues and in the hands of multinational promoters like Live Nation, often to the detriment of smaller offerings. The recent cancellation of Bob Vylan’s concert at Manchester’s Radar festival (in spite of the founders’ objections) also highlighted how this ownership structure can act as a censure for political expression and rebellion.
Closer to home, our cultural spaces are suffering in general. Things like libraries, museums, sports facilities and youth centres have been closed, cut back or are no longer free. One of Cardiff’s greatest cultural assets, St David’s hall, has been shut down for months. And let’s remember what has happened to music specifically in Cardiff over the past few years.
Last year, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama completely axed its junior music programme which benefitted around 350 young people. Cardiff University has dramatically cut its prestigious School of Music. In 2023, Cardiff Council cut the arts budget by around £1.9Million and vital music in schools programmes have been cut by £8million.
What we offer our young people has been curtailed so much that even imagining free spaces built for enjoyment and socialising seems far-fetched.Perhaps what this speaks to most acutely of all is a crisis facing our young people, not just in music but culture and sports in general. Overall, there is a chronic lack of free or cheap things for young people to do.
Anyone who has teenage children in the summer months will see this for themselves. Take something that might seem trivial – a basketball court near where I live in Roath Park, Cardiff. The court must be used by hundreds of young people every week when it’s not raining. It’s one the few free sports activities left and provides all manner of benefits to the people who play there.
But for years the tarmac has blown in various places and badly needs replacing. When I emailed the council about this last year, I didn’t even get a reply. But how hard can it be to lay down some new tarmac, especially when it would benefit so many young people? If a 35,000 capacity music venue can be built in a matter of weeks, why can’t a basketball court be re-laid?
It increasingly feels that the answer is because no private enterprise is able to profit from a free basketball court, so it’s left to rot. This logic has come to dominate our public spaces. It wasn’t so long ago that two young people could stroll onto a public tennis court and give it a go. Now the courts are locked up, only openable via a payment to Tennis Wales.
We used to teach swimming as part of the school curriculum, ensuring that everyone could hold their own in the water regardless of their background. But Cardiff council, along with other local authorities, have simply stopped teaching children to swim. Now it’s left to parents to pay £30 – £40 per month for private tuition.
Even catching a bus is too expensive for a lot of kids. In fact, the lack of free things for young people to do in our city means that we are even left to mourn the loss of commercial enterprises that filled the gap. This brings to mind the imminent closure of Cardiff’s Red Dragon centre, a place where you can go bowling, play arcade games or watch a movie for a not-too-hefty price tag.
Yet this is set to be replaced by a huge arena for more mega events and will undoubtedly be inaccessible for most people most of the time. The sad truth is that what we offer our young people in the form of public activity has been curtailed so much that even imagining modern, free spaces built for enjoyment and socialising seems far-fetched.
We hear a lot of criticism about the damaging role social media plays in the health and wellbeing of teenagers. Much of this is valid, but omitted from the conversation is any acknowledgement that they have been robbed of other things to do. When the only free thing are platforms like Snapchat, is it any wonder that they become so dominant?
Thankfully we have some examples of how things could be different. Cardiff Council deserves praise for facilitating Tafwyl, a free Welsh language festival which shows how Bute park’s space can be used for real public good. The young people who spend their days and evenings there will remember it forever.
And the fact that it’s free will not go unnoticed in a world where everything, even communicating with friends online, must pass through some form of commercial transaction. Sŵn festival also deserves a mention here.But these events are one offs in the year, what about the vast majority of the time?
And outside of the capital, the offerings for young people can be even smaller. Of course it would be crazy to lay the blame for all of this at the door of Blackweir Live, but we can point to the growing corporatisation of music and culture, and local government’s rush to embrace this, as a major part of the problem.
In the student uprising of Paris in 1968, a slogan found its way onto the walls: Be realistic; demand the impossible. Perhaps expecting to see Stevie Wonder play for free in the Welsh capital is a little far-fetched, but is it so unrealistic to demand a city that genuinely works for the young people growing up in it?
