THE FREE EVENT – PART OF THE COMPANY’S THREE-YEAR BIG DEMOCRACY PROJECT – WILL ASK ‘WHAT IS THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE FACING WALES?’
National Theatre Wales is to hold a FREE day of political performance and debate at the Senedd – 10 years to the month since it was opened – and the Pierhead in Cardiff Bay, on Saturday 19th March 2016.
The Big Democracy: The Senedd will feature free performances and open debates, hosted by four regional Big Democracy Project hosts from across Wales, joined by poets, filmmakers, performers, thinkers, visual artists and activists.
Among these will be Theatre, Grassroots and Activism; a panel discussion on what power theatre has to effect social change, featuring representatives from Battersea Arts Centre and Lyn Gardner (the Guardian’s theatre critic).
In the evening, one final Assembly will be held inside the Senedd, with the aim of igniting powerful, heartfelt and passionate discussion and determine what is the most pressing issue facing Wales. National Theatre Wales will produce a show based on that issue in 2017, in the final phase of its Big Democracy Project.
The National Assembly for Wales’ Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler AM, is sponsoring the event.
It is hoped that hundreds will attend – and take part in – The Big Democracy: The Senedd, which is free but ticketed (details below). But those who can’t make it to Cardiff Bay on 19th March can contribute in advance, by leaving a voicemail message on 02921 253070* on what they feel is the most pressing issue facing Wales.
National Theatre Wales Creative Associate, Gavin Porter, said: “Democracy is a very big word, and it deserves a big event in which individuals, groups and communities can come together to share their views, and listen to others’. I hope many will come to Cardiff Bay on 19th March and join in the discussions, enjoy the performances and feel inspired by what they’ve seen and heard.”
The Big Democracy Project
The Senedd event marks the second of National Theatre Wales’ three-phase Big Democracy Project, which explores how art and creativity can help communities across Wales re-engage with the democratic process.
The BDP was borne of the company’s Assembly programme, in which artists and communities combine performance and debate to tackle hot topics. The BDP was launched in July 2014, with a four-point manifesto:
to ask big questions about our democracy;
help Wales imagine the future it wants;
make a real change to the lives of people in Wales and beyond; and
instigate action through art.
In Phase 1, National Theatre Wales invited communities in north, south, mid and west Wales to propose a subject relevant to them (any local political issue with a national, or even global relevance. The ideas were shortlisted and voted for in an online poll, leading to Assemblies on voter apathy, in Bangor; asylum and identity, in Cardiff; the effects of austerity on disabled people, in Llandrindod Wells; and Wales’ education system, in Ammanford. All four events were hosted by National Theatre Wales in collaboration with local artists, to use art and performance to instigate political conversations.
Representatives from these four regional events will come together at the Senedd to facilitate a series of discussions around their original themes.
In the third and final phase, NTW will be working with artists and communities across the country to develop a major piece of work on the big theme chosen at the Senedd event, to be produced in 2017.
The Big Democracy Project is supported by the Rayne Foundation.
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