As we’re bombarded from all directions by gloomy news about economic recession and political upheaval, it’s good to be reminded that the arts continue to do what they’re best at – providing enjoyment, inspiration and surprise.  And goodness knows we need these qualities now, more than ever.

It’s all too easy to take the arts for granted.  In fact, they’re an important – and growing – part of people’s lives.  The recently published findings of the 2008 Welsh Omnibus Survey show that more people than ever before are attending, and taking part in, arts activity.  And as this Newsletter proves, there’s an incredible variety of astonishing arts activity across Wales for people to get involved with.

So let’s not forget that the arts do matter.  We all know that having a vibrant and forward‑looking culture is the hallmark of a creative and confident nation. We want as many people as possible to experience and enjoy the arts – to be inspired by imagination and creativity, excited by ambition and spectacle, fascinated by the new and unfamiliar.  But we also know that the arts have a role to play across many different aspects of civic life.  In our everyday concerns about community spirit, our built environment, health and education, it’s the arts that often provide the ties that bind people and communities together.

Nowhere is this more important than in the creative opportunities we make for our young people.  The arts can transform the way children and young people learn and explore the world around them.   It can change the way they see themselves – even what they dream of for the future – as well as helping them to develop life skills they need for our increasingly competitive world of work.  There’s a growing body of evidence that shows how the arts can tackle youth poverty, inspiring young people with new ambition and confidence, challenging poverty of aspiration.  This is why we’re so delighted that the Arts Council is working with the Welsh Assembly Government on the Reach the Heights project, helping young people find new opportunities for creative education, training and employment.

Of course, we’re not immune from the pressures that are being faced by all sectors of public life.  Those who attended this year’s Arts Council Conference in Barry heard the Heritage Minister’s warning that the arts will have to argue its cause with passion and vigour.  It’s a challenge that we’re happy to accept.  After all, Wales will be the poorer if we don’t, so we must all be determined to see strong, vibrant and exciting arts thriving long into the future.

19 professional artists from across the arts disciplines received a Creative Wales Award from Arts Council of Wales, at a reception held at Barry Memorial Hall and Theatre. Creative Wales Awards recognise the very best talent and potential of individual Welsh artists.

Supported by Arts Council of Wales and Lottery funding, Creative Wales Awards of up to £25,000 are available for Welsh artists every year. For 2008/09, 19 artists have been awarded over £295,000. The awards guarantee artists an income for a period, enabling them to take time out to experiment, innovate, and take forward their work. Creative Wales Awards aim to develop excellence and to build sustainability in the arts by supporting artists in their professional growth.

The recipients of the Creative Wales Awards 2008/09 are:

Visual and Applied Arts and Crafts: Sam Bakewell, David Binns, Andrew Cooper, David Colwell, Anne Gibbs, Karen Ingham, Brenda Oakes, Sue Williams.

Performing Arts: Douglas Comley, Chris Tally Evans, Simon Harris, Sean Tuan John, Deborah Light, Nerys Lloyd, Marega Palser, Guto Puw, Lleuwen Steffan.

Literature: Jon Gower, Owen Martell.

At the Award reception, 200 guests were entertained by Lleuwen Steffan and her band. A short documentary film, commissioned from Peter Telfer of Culture Colony, presented the work and ambitions of the Creative Wales artists. To read more about the artists and their projects, please click on:http://www.artswales.org/creativewales

This year a further dimension was added to the Creative Wales Awards Ceremony, with the inclusion of the new Creative Wales Ambassadors Awards.

The Creative Wales Ambassadors Awards is the Arts Council of Wales's Beacon scheme for individual artists and is an exciting and extremely valuable extension to our existing support structure for individuals.

The Minister of Heritage, Alun Ffred Jones, AM, presented four awards of £25,000, (£100k in total), to four exceptional Welsh artists:  Michael Cousin, Sioned Huws, John Metcalf and Laura Thomas.

Funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, the aim of the Creative Wales Ambassadors Awards is to recognise significant individual achievement in the arts, to raise the profile of Welsh culture outside of Wales and to provide financial support to enable the artist to develop a new programme of work.

Although the Creative Wales Ambassadors awards are focused on the individual, the scheme required the artist to demonstrate a strong partnership with two host organisations, one based in Wales and one beyond Wales.

The aim of the partnership with the host organisations is to provide a platform or the work the artist develops during the period of the award and to further promote art being produced in Wales.

To read more about the Creative Wales Ambassadors’ international projects, please click on: http://www.artswales.org.uk/viewnews.asp?id=1201

‘Forging the Future’, Arts Council of Wales’s Annual Conference, took place this year on the 30 April at the Barry Memorial Hall and Theatre.

Braving the spring showers, a record 250 delegates attended the Conference, most of whom had also attended the Creative Wales Awards. This year’s keynote speakers included Professor Dominic Shellard from Sheffield Theatres Trust; Helen Marriage from Event Production company, Artichoke; Minister for Heritage, Alun Ffred Jones, AM, and Nick Capaldi, Chief Executive, Arts Council of Wales.

One of the highlights of the day was Events Producer, Helen Marriage’s keynote speech.  Helen shared her experiences working on large-scale open-air events including the mind-boggling ‘The Sultan's Elephant’ and La Machine in Liverpool.  Her passion for her work impressed the audience and hopefully provided inspiration for future projects (albeit on a slightly smaller scale!)

Making their debut at an Arts Council of Wales Annual Conference, Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, AM and Nick Capaldi, Chief Executive for Arts Council of Wales, both made thought provoking keynote speeches on the challenges ahead for the Arts in Wales.

Other seminar themes included a lively open space session which gave delegates the opportunity to create their own discussions; ‘Developing Cultural Leadership’ lead by Simon Dauncey and ‘Making your own connections – how is practice changing?’ lead by Pete Telfer and Gerald Wyler.

Dynion, the multi award winning Welsh Male Dance Company from Swansea, performed an extract from their current production, ‘Falling Apart’ and Justin Preece, Percussionist, opened the day with his vigorous African drumming.

2008 Creative Wales Award recipient, Menna Elfyn, presented her take on the day as our Poet in Residence:

Thirteen ways of looking at the arts

Drymiau:
Curiad calon.

We need to top down
Top up? Bottom up?

A climbing frame
Is needed.

We need
National plumbing,
--or was that planning?

Find a platform
to raise a profile.

We need a large pool:
Savants and water carriers,

and a big ‘bug’ site.

We need to pull
people together,
thrash it out.

it is a matter
of urgency,
needs to be done
now,
and can be.

Sex up your scheme,
(cynganeddu nawr).

The hedgehog
or the fox?

Or Hoddinott’s
badger in the bag:
Kafka’s cockroach;

How do we stop artists
Leaving Wales?

What we need ?
 The legs of dancers,
 characters with legs,

who’ll grow,
thanks to Plato
wings against gravity,
so we can fly.

And right now,
‘I feel like singing’.

MENNA ELFYN

To read the presentations by the keynote speakers at this year’s Annual Conference, please click on:http://www.artswales.org/publicationscheme.asp?pubcatid=151

For the 53rd International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, renowned Musician and Artist John Cale will present a new, specially commissioned audio-visual installation from Wales. This project resonates with the poetic, bardic tradition that underpins the cultural history of Wales, and has at its heart Cale's own personal relationship with the Welsh language and issues surrounding communication.

John Cale has already presented his thoughts about his Venice project in an open discussion in his home-patch of Ammanford in March, which greatly intrigued the audience. Now the woman in charge, Comissioner, Mari Beynon Owen, shares her thoughts on bringing this ambitious installation to the Venice Biennale..

John Cale and Wales at the Venice Biennale

Less than a week to go before the official opening of ‘DYDDIAU DU/DARK DAYS’, John Cale’s presentation on behalf of Wales at the Venice Biennale of Art.

The technical team have been out there for a few weeks and the work of placing the five screens and audio equipment has now been completed. Everyone’s very excited as we haven’t yet seen the completed work.  I decided that we wouldn’t have a preview before we go to Venice because seeing and hearing the work in the Capannone will be a unique experience.

The anticipation is mounting with the phones ringing off the hook with the requests for press interviews piling up daily. By now, it’s hard to believe that it’s been less than six months since we started the production work. Everyone’s worked extremely hard to bring the artist’s desires to reality in a very short time. It’s been a very special experience for John Cale, an experience that’s invoked a highly emotional response that will most certainly be part of the finished installation.

Organising a show in Venice creates several practical challenges –our home for the next six months is an old brewery on the island of Giudecca and we had to adapt it and create new walls for the installation. As for transportation, we’ve had to transfer everything from a large lorry to land by boat and that includes tables and chairs! One of the major headaches was ensuring we had enough power for the installation itself and to run a fridge for the much needed cool refreshments!

The opening event takes place on June 4 when the international art world will have its first peek at the work. It’s challenging, provoking work and most certainly Wales at the Venice Biennale of Art 2009 will be unforgettable.  The show remains in Venice until November and we hope it will tour Wales in 2010, giving us another opportunity to experience this unique artist’s work.

For more information, please visit: http://www.walesvenicebiennale.org.uk

 

On May 7 a £49 million initiative to help around 30,000 young people in Wales improve their career opportunities was launched by Jane Hutt, Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills.

Reach the Heights will target 11 - 19 year-olds across West Wales and the Valleys, and aims to help them build a brighter future.
The project has been awarded £27 million of European Social Fund resources plus match funding from the Welsh Assembly Government and sponsors including  Arts Council of Wales, Children in Wales, Funky Dragon, Save the Children, Community Music Wales, Techniquest, SNAP Cymru and Urdd Gobaith Cymru.

The Education Minister launched the initiative at an event at Llanelli's Parc y Scarlets. To read more please click on: http://www.artswales.org/viewnews.asp?id=1206

It has long been recognised that Art is good for the soul, but did you know that Art is also good for the heart?

‘Arts in Health and Well-being’ is an action plan launched in partnership on May 8 2009 by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Arts Council of Wales. 

Backed by the Health Minister and the Heritage Minister, ‘Arts in Health and Well-Being’, demonstrates that there is a strong connection between the arts and good health.  It is hoped it will increase understanding of the role of the arts in health and wellbeing in Wales as well as providing guidance and information for the development of arts and health initiatives.

To read more and to get your copy of the action plan, please click on: http://www.artswales.org/viewnews.asp?id=1205

"Y Bachgen, y Cyw, a'r Wy Aur", (The Boy, The Chick and the Golden Egg), kick started Theatr na n'Óg's Welsh language production tour for children at the Arts Council of Wales's stand at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Cardiff last week.

The show was part of the Arts Council of Wales exciting programme of events during the Eisteddfod week, which included African Drumming and art workshops for children.  To read more, please click on:

http://www.artswales.org/viewnews.asp?id=1221

by Amanda Loosemore, Regional Director, Mid and West Office

In March it was announced that the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts will take over responsibility for an annual international jazz festival based in Brecon.  Although focusing largely on 2010, an important part of the Hay Festival’s plans is a commitment to arranging a smaller-scale programme of activity in Brecon during 2009.  For more information, please click on: http://www.artswales.org.uk/viewnews.asp?id=1214

South Powys Youth Music – an independently run charity – staged a one-day workshop and gala concert on 12 March 2009 at Theatr Brycheiniog to celebrate the wealth and breadth of music-making available for school children across South Powys.

ENGAGE – the National Association for Gallery Education held a seminar on 18th March at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on ”deaf and disabled people as artists and audiences”, aiming to help galleries develop more inclusive approaches to working with deaf and disabled people.

Theatr Powys continue their participatory Theatre in Education programme with “The Apothecary’s Story" touring throughout various venues in the County from March – May 2009.

The Final of the Young Composer of Dyfed Competition 2009 which continues to showcase some remarkable young talent each year, was held at Rhos-y-Gilwen in Pembrokeshire on 4 April.

On 1 April 2009, Cwmni Theatr Arad Goch celebrated their 20th birthday at their recently redeveloped base in Aberystwyth. Throughout 2009 the Company will be staging ‘twenty events to celebrate twenty years’ and more information is available on their website http://www.aradgoch.org

Also celebrating the big ‘20’, South Wales Intercultural Community Arts (SWICA) is launching three ground-breaking initiatives in 2009/10 to mark its 20th Anniversary in true carnival style. To read more, please click on: http://www.artswales.org/viewnews.asp?id=1159

A thought-provoking exhibition exploring the boundaries, and sometimes tensions, between the craft/applied arts and the visual/fine arts was held at Oriel Myrddin in Carmarthen from 4 April – 16 May 2009. “Crafted” showed work which transforms the mundane or every day material into something quite remarkable.

This Spring The Wales Theatre Company launched, (arguably), their most adventurous project to date, with the world premiere of a new musical version of “The Thorn Birds”. Directed by Michael Bogdanov, the show attracted large audiences at Aberystwyth Arts Centre from 28 April until 2 May 2009.

Primary Schools in Swansea and Pembroke, enjoyed outdoor learning through 'Sculpture by the Sea'; an interpretative nature and art project. The aim of the project achieved an awareness of a local natural environment and its wildlife for young school children, through observation and study in an artistic way.

On 23 March 2009, Llais launched their website at Ammanford Miners Theatre. Llais offers a stage for young actors throughout the County and continues to engage with a large number of young people each year.

In late February, the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery opened the “Supernova” in partnership with the British Council. The show brings together works by contemporary British artists examining the evolution of geometric abstraction in the 21st Century, and is one of a programme of events across the UK to mark the 75th anniversary celebrations of the British Council.

A unique collaboration between live music and dance, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, toured in February and March 2009. Supported by the Taliesin Arts Centre, the piece featured the work of composer Charlie Barber, the Brazilian-born choreographer Jean Abreu and his dancers, and performances by the Mavron String Quartet.

The Richard Alston Dance Company returned to Wales for an exclusive Welsh performance at Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, on Thursday 21 May with a superb triple bill including two of Alston's most exhilarating works, ‘Blow Over’ and ‘Movements from Petrushka.’

NoFit State Circus staged a performance of their new show Tabu at the Spaceship Big Top, North Dock in Llanelli. The audience was enthralled – if a little nerve-wracked - by such daredevil acrobatics taking place over their heads and all around them. The children and young people present appeared far less cautious than the adult members of the audience, and followed the performers around the space at close proximity. After the performances in Llanelli, the show moved in to the Roundhouse in London garnering rave reviews from the broadsheets.

Twenty five years on, Billy Bragg will undertake a special 9-date solo tour of Wales in June 2009 to remember the 1984-85 Miners' Strike and its legacy on communities across Wales. The tour, co-produced by Coda, Theatr Mwldan and Big Pit as part of the Arts Council of Wales's Arts Outside Cardiff scheme, begins at Blaenafon Workmen's Hall on June 5. Tickets are available from the venues, with full details available at http://www.billybragg.co.uk

Mappa Mundi stormed the stage with an excellent ‘Arts Outside Cardiff’ production of ‘She Stoops To Conquer’ recently. Garnering rave reviews from the broadsheets, this was a Mappa Mundi/Theatr Mwldan/Torch Theatre co-production. You can still catch the tour which ends on May 30. For more information, please click on: http://www.artswales.org.uk/viewnews.asp?id=1190

Shimon Attie’s beautifully moving and respectful installation ‘The Attraction of Onlookers: Aberfan an anatomy of a Welsh village’ completed its residency at Cardiff’s National Museum & Gallery in February. This ground-breaking 2006 project was funded by Arts Council of Wales in partnership with Heritage Lottery Fund and the Welsh Assembly Government, and was the subject of a BBC TV documentary.

Abertillery’s The Met presented Puppet State Theatre’s ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’ in March, which has proved a hit at venues across Wales.

In March, Blackwood Miners’ Institute presented Swansea City Opera’s ‘The Elixir of Love’ and also 2009 Creative Wales Award recipient, Sean Tuan John’s Bombastic company with its acclaimed ‘Argonauts’ dance theatre and new media production.

The same month, Riverfront presented ‘Miss Brown to You’, Hijinx Theatre’s latest production, written by Alan Harris.

March also saw Treorchy’s Parc & Dare Theatre presenting Catrin Finch & Cimarron, an exciting harp-based performance uniting artistic talent from Wales and Columbia.

Aberdare’s Coliseum Theatre presented ‘The Pickwick Papers’ in March, a co-production between European Arts and RCT Theatres. In this region the production also visited the Grand Pavilion, the Beaufort Theatre and the Borough Theatre.

Written in response to the terrible events in Gaza earlier this year, Caryl Churchill’s short play “Seven Jewish Children” ran for two weeks at London’s Royal Court in January, then was freely released for worldwide performance. In Wales this startling and deeply moving piece was performed by a group of professional actors all giving their time for free, in association with Terry Victor’s Notional Theatre, at Chapter, Swansea’s Dylan Thomas Centre, the Senedd and the Parc & Dare.

Riverfront Arts Centre, Newport recently presented a play by Patrick Jones, ‘Revelation’. As The Big Issue said, “For all the expletive ridden psychological warfare throughout Patrick Jones’ latest play – a brutally candid semi autobiographical account of a man suffering from domestic abuse – the truism ‘men don’t talk’ shows how taboo the subject remains.”

Also at the Riverfront, Michael Kelligan’s Welsh Fargo Stage Company brought their ‘On the Edge’ programme of staged, script-in-hand performances of new plays from Wales during April, with more to follow in May and June. Catch these events at Chapter, Taliesin and the Parc & Dare too…

In March/April, Ffotogallery presented Tim Brennan’s ‘English Anxieties’ exhibition at its Penarth gallery, a co-commission with Photoworks in association with the Mass Observation Archive at Sussex University and the European Centre for Photographic Research at University of Wales Newport.

The Grand Pavilion hosted the Porthcawl Jazz Festival during April, the highlight of which was Kenny Ball and his Jazz Men.

Coed Hills Rural Artspace in the Vale has just finished hosting inflatable sculpture making workshops led by contemporary artists Walker & Bromwich, using recycled plastic bags and culminating in an exhibition 'The milk float of human kindness'.

April saw Trac’s May Carols workshop being held at the Oakdale Institute at St Fagan’s, attracting more than 20 participants, comprising Welsh speakers or Welsh learners with a specific interest in this area of traditional music.

This month, Sinfonia Cymru performed a Sunday concert at Cardiff’s St David's Hall, including Rebecca Evans.

Commissioned by Safle as part of the St David’s 2 Public Art Programme, ‘Museum of the Moment’ gave Cardiff inhabitants an opportunity to learn more about their city. This project was part of ‘The Arcades Project: a 3D Documentary’, produced by artist, Jennie Savage, exploring Cardiff’s Victorian and Edwardian shopping arcades using storytelling, documentary, localised phenomena and historical methodologies.

Co-presented in Wales by RCT Theatres & CodaAgency, American singer-songwriter Devon Sproule performed in various venues in South Wales in May to a very appreciative audience.

Sherman Cymru recently presented two successful productions, ‘Small Change’ by Peter Gill and a new play by 2008 Creative Wales Award playwright Gary Owen, Amgen: Broken. Based on his own life experiences, Amgen: Broken was uniquely presented in both Welsh and English lanugages with BBC Three’s ‘Grown-ups’ Steven Meo, in the main role.

WNO have also been very busy this Spring with a variety of productions, from ‘Boxing Beats’ to ‘The Marriage of Figaro’.  Welsh National Youth Opera’s next ambitious production, the deliciously dark, ‘Sweeney Todd’, will be performed at the Weston Studio between July 10-13. 

The Gwanwyn Festival kicked off with a plethora of events across Wales to launch its third national festival of creativity in older people in May. From a special premiere performance of Composer, Gareth Glyn’s new work for the harp to a tea dance at Galeri Caernarfon, there was something for everyone at this year’s festival. To read more please click on:  http://www.gwanwyn.org.uk/

Ruthin Craft Centre has been short listed for the 2009 Art Fund Award for Museums and Galleries. The only Wales based organisation to reach the final four, we must all get voting to ensure Ruthin Craft Centre receives the £100,000 prize money. This honour confirms the centre’s reputation as one of the UK’s premier applied art galleries.  To vote, please click on: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/poll/2009/may/05/art-fund-britains-best-museums
Closing date for entries is the end of June. So get voting!

Good news too for Galeri Caernarfon’s community arts project, SBARC, which involves young people in a range of arts activities including digital storytelling, film-making, performing arts, a rock school and technical theatre skills SBARC recently won a ZOOM Young People’s Film Award. Its sister project COFIS BACH, located in the Communities First ward in Caernarfon has also received a further 3 years of funding from the Welsh Assembly Government.

The youth bands tutored and coordinated by the Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias’ School Service have achieved another UK success recently. The Gwynedd and Mon Symphonic Band won the championship Gold Medal at the National Concert Band Festival and were highly commended by the judges for their professionalism.

Studio Safle, in partnership with Ruthin Craft Centre, are running 2 3-month residencies for applied artists seeking to expand their practice into the public realm, challenging craft working methods and materials. The residencies will take place in and around the studios at the newly refurbished Ruthin Craft Centre.

The first residency was given to Jessica Lloyd-Jones for her fascinating and intelligent approach to the use of light and glass. Jessica has been awarded a Arts Council of Wales grant to undertake a month long research and development project concerned with investigating aspects related to biological electricity, the history of the light bulb and first neon and glass experiments of 19th century - in collaboration with Steve Conlon neon artist, at Urban Glass Studios in New York. This will be followed by an exhibition at SOFA Chicago later in 2009.

The second residency was awarded to Sophie Horton. Sophie has been artist in residence at Ruthin Craft Centre for the past two and a half months. As artist in the public realm, supported by SAFLE and the Arts Council of Wales - she has been concerned with how textiles occupy the external environment and has continued to question the stereotyping of materials and the shift of textiles away from the domestic.

National Theatre Wales has been developing an exciting new vision since the start of the year, and this month the company has been letting people know what to expect.

Engaged, Innovative, International
Imagine a new National Theatre in Wales.  What do you want?  The possibilities are infinite.  The story so far is that we have created a brand new flexible, non-building based organisation to develop and enrich English language theatre in Wales.  So what next?  Well, we aspire to be innovative, engaged, and international.  And what do we mean by that?

Engaged
We will create theatre in a surprising variety of places: in big venues and community spaces, indoors and outdoors, in real time and online. Our productions will involve and engage you in surprising ways and respond to the places where you live or spend your time.

Innovative
We will open up new possibilities in theatre: identifying topical and expressing them in surprising and imaginative ways.  We will work with a huge variety of artists, find new ways for audiences to be part of our work. In out partnerships we will always be looking to add the ‘unexpected extra ingredient’... Our digital presence will provide a year-round home for audiences, participants, artists and collaborators as a resource, archive, debating chamber and network.  You will have a National Theatre that is open and eager to hear new ideas, and together we will find extraordinary new ways of doing things. 

International
We will invite directors and companies from across the world to work with Welsh artists, actors and participants, creating new kinds of theatre from this international mix.

March 2010 to March 2011:  Create, Debate, Respond
We want to make each show and event unique by focussing on place and people.  Every theatre performance is a one-off - a meeting of these performers and this audience: here, now, together.  Our first year’s programme will emphasise the uniqueness of the live theatre event extraordinary through a focus on three distinctive elements – Create, Debate, Respond.

We want to hear your ideas.  Find out more and join our online community today athttp://www.nationaltheatrewales.org

Historical heritage is going for gold as the Culture Olympiad inspired heritage projects in Wales begin in earnest this month at eight Cadw sites including Caernarfon Castle, Harlech Castle, Flint Castle and Denbigh Castle in the north; Caerphilly Castle and Blaenavon Ironworks in the south and St Davids Bishops Palace and Laugharne Castle in the west.

The Cultural Olympiad is a four year UK-wide programme of culture. The Cauldrons and Furnaces initiative, which is delivered in partnership with Arts Council of Wales and CADW, is a variety of artist-led projects working with Welsh local communities over four years. The projects will be designed to grow into enormous installations over the course of the Olympiad to be aired finally, and in their totality, just before the 2012 Games in July 2010.

To read more please click on: http://www.artswales.org/viewnews.asp?id=1213

Arts Council of Wales launched its two Youth Arts Strategies, developed in partnership with Rhondda Cynon Taf and Blaenau Gwent, at the Senedd Building on the 30 March 2009.

During the Senedd launch, the young people of Rhondda Cynon Taf and Blaenau Gwent performed live in the presence of Keith Towler, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales; Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, AM and guests.

For more information, please click on:
http://www.artswales.org.uk/viewnews.asp?id=1173

Night Out presents a new season of fantastic fashions in the village halls and community centres of Wales throughout the summer months.  Shows full of fun, variety and fabulous outfits promise to bring sunshine and laughter to all four corners of the principality, just in case Mother Nature doesn’t manage it! 

Lovers of Swing will be celebrating the glamour and music of old Hollywood in various locations with Tony Jacobs, Jo King and The Fabulous Forties Swing Band... Whilst Zoot suits and brothel creepers will no doubt be de rigueur for jiving in Bridgend, Benllech, Sandycroft and Carmarthen.  

Hats of various colours and style will prove the perfect fashion accessory throughout the country. Little black pointy hats for Arad Goch’s production of Children’s favourite Rwtsh Ratsh Rala Rwdins, a safety helmet with built-in pigtails for Circus Berzercus and a fetching skull and crossbones for CBBC’s Dan and Jeff and their show, “Potted Pirates”.

South America seems to be the theme for summer 09 with shows from Os Sambistas and The Amigos and stories from Bolivia and Beyond from Peter Searles.  The season’s colours are those of the rainbow courtesy of Hijinx Theatre who are chasing them through May and June.

Meanwhile Peter, Hilary and Nia will be exhibiting their usual classic cool in the summer heat and will be happy to chat with anyone regarding the scheme on their new telephone number of 029 20441340.

In the meantime the Night Out Young Promoters Scheme is undergoing a bit of a makeover. Working in partnership with Gwent Police, Communities First and Caerphilly County Borough Council, two groups of young people from Trecenydd and Bedwas in Caerphilly will be organising a professional performance for local residents.  Whilst learning all aspects of putting on an event, the group will meet professional event organisers and media experts and gain first hand knowledge of sponsorship and PR.  They will also get a fantastic free tour of the Millennium Stadium, very generously provided by the venue’s events team and will also have the opportunity to brainstorm a new moniker for the Promoters Scheme.

For more information on the Young Promoters scheme please contact Hilary at Night Out on 029 20441340 or visit:http://www.nightout.org.uk/

Many of our artists will play a central role in the United States this summer when Wales is the guest nation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival for the first time. This annual festival attracts approximately 1 million diverse visitors who come to experience a celebration of cultures and different ways of life.

For two weeks in June and July, Wales will be represented through a programme of activities, undertaken by more than a 130 participants on a site the size of four football pitches. Over the past two years, a team of curators, artists, historians and representatives from other fields – overseen and mostly funded by the Welsh Assembly Government – have been working on a vibrant programme which aims to bring together a variety of folk and artistic traditions from Wales and present them in contemporary light.

Wales Smithsonian Cymru’s over-arching theme is ‘sustainability’, which ranges in its interpretation from green energy to the durability of traditions and folkways which are given a new lease of life in the work of today’s artists, crafts people and practitioners.

Some of the best young Welsh writers have already performed their work to enthusiastic audiences in Washington DC this March.  Other events that will take place during the Festival and beyond include: the Moving Images from Wales film festival organised by Film Agency Wales and the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales; the Welsh Table ceramics exhibition by Ruthin Craft Centre; a contemporary writing collaboration between Sherman Cymru and the Studio Theatre; an art critic exchange programme by Visiting Arts British Council and Wales Arts International; choral workshops and performances byWelsh National Opera; a new Folkways CD of Welshmusic and a preview debate on the National Museum of Wales’ exhibition Turner to Cézanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection.

Wales’ presence on the Mall will give greater prominence to visual representations by artists than any has ever been the case in the Festival’s forty three year history with work by artists Angharad Pearce Jones, Mary Lloyd Jones, Cefyn Burgess and Howard Bowcott, to name but a few.

Wales Smithsonian Cymru will highlight the wealth of artistic talents in Wales, celebrating innovation whilst cherishing tradition. To find out more about Wales Smithsonian Cymru and Wales Washington Cymru and for the full list of artists involved go to http://www.wales.com/smithsonian

WALES ARTS INTERNATIONAL

Wales Arts International (WAI) is a partnership between the Arts Council of Wales and British Council: it works to promote knowledge about contemporary culture from Wales and encourage international exchange and collaboration. Through the encouragement of our projects and initiatives, we aim to help build a dynamic international context to the arts in Wales.

A variety of international news and opportunities are listed and updated regularly on Wales Arts International's website, for further information please visit:http://www.wai.org.uk

In February 2008 The Welsh Assembly Government announced a new Arts Council of Wales investment of £125,000 for the development of new community arts provision across the Heads of the Valleys Eastern area, ‘Head for Arts’.

A year later, Head For Arts presented its first bilingual community performance, ‘Valleys Girl’, which worked across four counties, involving hundreds of people from a variety of age groups and backgrounds.

Work towards the project began in September 2008 with the delivery of outreach workshops across the Head for Arts patch.  These workshops were designed to generate stories and ideas from the local community via digital storytelling and song writing workshops.

The production was a great success, bringing 1,000 people together with 10% of these being new participants to the arts.

Hot on the trail of Valleys Girl success, work towards Head for Arts next community theatre project is already underway tying in with the 2010 Eisteddfod in Ebbw Vale and the ‘Cauldrons and Furnaces’ project for the Cultural Olympiad in 2012.  To find out more, please click on:http://www.head4arts.org.uk

We are sad to commemorate the passing of Aneurin M. Thomas, who passed away at his home in St Hilary, Vale of Glamorgan on January 16 2009 at the age of 87.

Aneurin M. Thomas was the first director of the Arts Council of Wales and was at the helm for nearly eighteen years. He was appointed in 1966 and began his term a year later when the organisation was known as the “Welsh Committee of the Arts Council of Great Britain”. Aneurin was given the responsibility for overseeing the various changes and restructuring required by the new set-up and steered the Arts Council firmly and successfully through a turbulent yet exciting period in its history.  He will be greatly missed.

To read a full obituary about Aneurin M. Thomas please click on:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/aneurin-m-thomas-first-director-of-the-welsh-arts-council-1675215.html