The current fifth season of Art @ the Assembly opened on Tuesday 16th, November, only a few moments before, just through the door to the right of the stage, the Assembly would be debating the future of the Arts Council of Wales. The Assembly Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas welcomed the event, noting that it would be the last to be held in the existing Assembly building and that he looked forward to future seasons of events in the new Assembly building, the ‘Senedd’ as he hoped the new building would be designated. He stressed that ”once again the programme represents our country’s rich culture. Art @ the Assembly is truly inclusive and this year’s programme embodies a key aim of the initiative – accessibility. The performances also bring our building to life and I congratulate Art & Business Cymru on its innovative work. These exciting events are made possible by the vision and support of the Welsh business community and all the companies involved deserve our thanks. I am extremely proud to be associated with Art @ the Assembly and look forward to watching the initiative flourish in the future.” Abergavenny-based performance-poet and gardener Francesca Kay got the season underway with a very lively reading of her work that she delivered with great charm and delicious sparkling humour with a bit of romance thrown in for extra excitement. The new season will represent a wide range of Wales-based creative talent: 14 December BBC National Chorus of Wales – Sponsored by Legal and General 8 February Gwent Theatre – Sponsored by Arup 8 March International Festival of Musical Theatre in Cardiff – Sponsored by Royal Mail Group 14 June Sgript Cymru – Sponsored by KTS Owens Thomas 5 July Patua Dance – Sponsored by G E Healthcare For further information concerning Arts & Business Cymru contact: Director Rachel Jones Tel: 02920 303023 .............. Arts & Business Cymru is a funded body that specialises in bringing Arts organisations and Business organisations together to make sponsorship and other mutually beneficial arrangements. One particularly interesting and attractive part of their work is Art @ the Assembly. It has become an established part of Wales' events calendar and is a unique partnership between Arts & Business Cymru and the National Assembly for Wales. It brings live performances to the public area of the Assembly building, thanks to business sponsorship. The initiative has been hugely popular since its inception in 2000 and attracts a substantial audience of business, arts and media professionals, as well as Assembly Members. Arts & Business Cymru launched its 6th season of Art @ The Assembly in November 2005. The June presentation took place on Tuesday 6th, presented by The Academi, and sponsored by West Coast Energy, renewable energy consultants specialising in Wind Farms. We were introduced to six young Welsh poets. Three working in the Welsh language and three in English. Catrin Dafydd Author, dramatist, poet, political campaigner, performer and musician. Catrin graduated with a degree in Welsh from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She won the Medal Lenyddiaeth (literature prize) at the Urdd Eisteddfod, Cardiff 2005 and has won 2nd and 3rd places in the Crown, Chair and Drama Prize competitions 11 times in five years. She works for the MP Adam Price and Assembly Member Rhodri Glyn Thomas. Her first play – ‘Sua’r Gwynt’ - was broadcast on Radio Cymru in December 2004 and two other plays will be broadcast in 2006. Catrin won an Academi bursary in 2004 to work on her first novel, which will be published in 2006. Clearly the most accomplished of the group. She read her work with the authority one would expect from someone who has achieved so much in such a relatively short time. Mari Siôn Mari was born in Dyffryn Ceiriog and grew up in Bangor. She studied International Politics and Third World Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and gained an MA in the Politics and Society of Wales from the same institution. Mari won the Medal Lenyddiaeth at the Urdd Eisteddfod, Anglesey 2004. At the moment she’s working on her first drama, Câr dy Gymydog, which will be performed in the National Eisteddfod in Swansea in cooperation with Prosiect 9 and Sgript Cymru. Hywel Griffiths Hywel won the Chair at the Urdd Eisteddfod, Anglesey 2004. He’s currently studying for a PhD in Geography, looking at rivers in particular. Again Welsh language writers so I am unable to comment on the content of the work but they both possessed that resonant Welsh tone of voice that the romance in their language confirmed that Welsh is the language of Heaven. Anna Lewis An archaeology student at Manchester University. She has won a number of awards for her poetry, including the Foyle Young Poets of the Year award in 2002. Her poems have been published in Poetry Wales and Mslexia, and she performed with a group of other young poets at last year's Oxford Literary Festival. Her first poem, where she reflects with Nye Bevan on where we have come since his pioneering days and her second on the 1911 strike were not angry protests but observations of great sensitivity and understanding. She gave her words an angular beauty exactly suited to her subject matter. Zoë Brigley Zoë Brigley originates from Caerphilly (born in 1981). She is a Postgraduate Fellow and Part-Time Tutor at the University of Warwick where she is completing a PhD project on contemporary Welsh women poets. She has won awards such as the Eric Gregory Award for the best British poets under 30 and a Welsh Academy Bursary. She received a fellowship with the University of East Anglia and the Centre for Translation in Tarazona, Spain. She has published poetry in magazines like Poetry Wales and New Welsh Review, and in anthologies such as Reactions and Seren Selections. Her work is strong and direct and shows a growing mastery of the techniques of poetry writing. Hangetsu A performance poet who “plays in the no-man's-land between poetry and lyrics”. Most of his material is based on “injustices that I see and want to change”, and his work has been featured in Wales’ newest litzine CFUK. A few days ago Hangetsu was outside the Senedd protesting at the expense of the building. A young and vital poet and rapper, his lyrics are all very well informed. He makes some very telling points that are in no way undermined by the entertaining way in which he delivers. Art @ The Assembly will end the present season with its next event on the 4th July when they will present Flamenco de Gales, sponsored by the Royal Mail Group. All the events take place from 5.30pm – 7pm. |
| Arts and Business web site: www.AandB.org.uk |
| Rachel Jones e-mail: cymru@AandB.org.uk |
Thursday, June 8, 2006 |
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