Morgan said that a Culture Board would be responsible for the coordination of funding, in order to create "clearer democratic accountability for the public money we spend in Wales."
According to the Times, Andrew Davies, Wales' minister for economic development, promised a "bonfire of the quangos" earlier this year, and added that the Arts Council of Wales would be the kindling.
This is a sharp turn away from previous thinking about arts funding in the U.K., where decisions about arts funding have been made by experts, based on artistic excellence, rather than by politicians, based on accountability.
In an angry response, Kevin Morgan, a professor at Cardiff University, described the change in policy as "taken in conditions of secrecy more appropriate to a John Le Carr_ novel."
Among the quangos: nominally independent bodies reliant on government funding: being either stripped of their power or absorbed into the government are the Welsh Language Board, the Ancient Monuments Board, the Historic Buildings Council, and the Wales Tourist Board.