CC(3) AC 52 Communities and Culture Committee Inquiry into the Accessibility of Arts and Cultural Activities in Wales Response from Jon Gower Dear Committee, Thank you for turning your attention to the provision for the arts in Welsh communities, especially at a time when chill economic winds blow. I should like to start my personal contribution by reproducing an account of the arts commissioned from me by Wales Arts International. It was penned to give artists overseas a sense of the range and embeddedness of the arts in our country. I hope it‟s useful to the committee, if only as a quick audit of the artistic wealth we currently possess. It is certainly a treasure worth more than money. The arts in Wales are vibrant, vital and varied, with practitioners who both respect the continuities of tradition and sharpen the cutting edge. The country is well provisioned with arts centres, galleries and theatre spaces and there‟s a real sense of stuff going on, of this being a country where people want to make things, from house music to conceptual art, from high octane dance to serene verse. The historian Dai Smith recently suggested that Wales is an old country becoming young and in many senses he‟s right. The existence of the Welsh Assembly Government, the National Assembly for Wales and new civic institutions have generated energy, deepened self awareness and touchstoned new ambition. These have led to ideas such as the Library of Wales, which reprints books, a sort of Welsh canon if you like, by such writers as Gwyn Thomas and Margiad Evans, making their work available in all of the country‟s schools and funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. Bands such as Super Furry Animals, Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers have long served to put the country on the musical map, and sell millions of albums to boot. Now talented newcomers such as Duffy are forging a trail for emerging artists such as Marina and the Diamonds and Ellie Goulding. They all join a musical roster which includes the ever energetic Tom Jones and other great singers such as Bryn Terfel and Shirley Bassey, in opera and showbusiness respectively. Folk or traditional music is energized by bands such as 9 Bach ( Little Grandmother) whose singer Lisa Jen Brown delights in arranging old tunes in sparkling new arrangements and delivering them with a voice that rings clearly true. The spirited melodies of the five piece band Calan and individual artists such as the extraordinary harpist Llio Rhydderch, refashion often ancient tunes and mold them into modern cuts. While individual musicians can make arresting music put over fifty together, as happens with Y Glerorfa, a sort of folk orchestra, and old melodies are given both depth and punch. The harp, of course, is a symbol often associated with Wales. It‟s believed that the country has more harpists per head of population than any other: little wonder that the town of Caernarfon hosts an International Harp Festival, with lectures, concerts and competitions. In classical music, too, composers such as Guto Pryderi Puw and John Metcalfe build on a vibrant tradition established by the likes of Grace Williams, Alun Hoddinott and William Mathias. The Vale of Glamorgan Festival is an annual celebration of contemporary music which first started in 1969 and has attracted composers of the calibre of Aarvo Part. Welsh National Opera, based in the golden armadillo shaped Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay is simply world class. It tours regularly around Wales and beyond and its community projects such as Opera Max are rightly lauded. The WMC, designed by architect Jonathan Adams is itself well worth a visit, staging anything from large scale musicals in the 2000 seater Donald Gordon theatre, to stand up comedy and experimental theatre in the smaller Weston studio. The centre regularly features free concerts and performances in one of its main public spaces while the building is home to a range of artistic companies including the Dance Company Wales, which thrives under the artistic guidance of Ann Sholem and attracts enthusiastic audiences wherever they go, be it Brecon‟s Theatr Brycheiniog or a recent Swiss sojourn which drew much critical acclaim. Matching energy with intelligence this is a national treasure of a company and a celebration of the human body and all its aspirations and expressions. Indeed Wales encourages dance in all its manifestations. Swansea‟s Dynion is an all male company which recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary. Dynion started life in the city‟s economically disadvantaged areas such as Townhill but has recently led to the formation of Dynion Pro, a professional company. Newport is the base for Independent Ballet Wales which, under the aegis of artistic director Darius James stages pared down but popular versions of established classics such as Giselle as well as new works, such as Under Milk Wood and The Lady of the Lake, inspired by Welsh texts or myths. The visual arts sector has been particularly confident these past couple of decades, with Wales hosting the biannual Artes Mundi Prize, one of the largest arts prizes in the world as well as hosting an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which has showcased a range of artists from Cerith Wyn Evans to musician John Cale. A chain of art spaces links much of the country from the contemporary arts showcase at Llandudno‟s revamped Oriel Mostyn in north Wales to mid Wales venues such as Oriel 31 while cities such as Swansea are home to galleries such as the Mission and Glynn Vivian galleries while Cardiff is well served by such spaces as Chapter Arts Centre, Ffotogallery in nearby Penarth and the small but exceedingly influential g39, which resides smack bang in the middle of the city‟s café quarter. Indeed artists seem to abound pretty much everywhere, not just because Wales is innately picturesque but also because its art education is premier league. A small commercial gallery sector is growing, too, to complement established art spaces. You might like to explore the weird worlds of Peter Finnemore, easily one of the most imaginative artists working in Wales, or the consistently inventive output of Bedwyr Williams. Check out too Sue Williams‟ vibrant canvases or the psychologically nuanced paintings of Kevin Sinnott or the landscape meditations of Brendan Stuart Burns, not to mention the conceptual avant garde actions of Andre Stitt, whose work investigates the act of painting as performance. Young artists such as Carwyn Evans, from agricultural west Wales have a lot to say about place and nationhood and say it arrestingly while Blaenau Ffestiniog based David Nash‟s work in wood, living and cut, is an ongoing essay about sense and dimension and is certainly worth seeking out. In the applied arts the Gallery at Ruthin Craft centre has regularly showcased the work of the country‟s makers and has gained an international appreciation for their work by presenting work at the Smithsonian, at Collect, the global art fair and at The International Expositions of Sculptural Objects and Functional Art (SOFA) in Chicago. The delicate ceramics of Lowri Davies are born out of everyday objects that her parents and grandparents would have used, or at least handled but with spry wit Davies gives drinking cups or Welsh dressers an elegantly contemporary feel. Referencing Nantgarw and Swansea porcelain her bone china tableware is alive with native birds and animals and her Welsh heritage is proving to be a deep font of inspiration. Other artists such as weaver Cefyn Burgess draw on their own cultural backgrounds for inspiration, making quilts that may depict Welsh chapels or reflect the landscape and light of his childhood days in the slate quarrying village of Bethesda. In her Cardiff studio textile designer Laura Thomas draws on both the dramatic landscapes of her native Pembrokeshire and the vitality of visual communications to marry the organic with the graphic to produce anything from commercial home furnishings to public art, while companies such as Melin Tregwynt make commercial products such as furniture, clothing and cushions using Welsh traditions with innovative and modern design. Their blankets, in particular, are simply beautiful in design but also magnificent for dealing with the chill of Welsh winters! Politically a process of devolution has produced a National Assembly in the country but culturally, too, new energies are being released. Wales is a net exporter of artistic talent, which seems appropriate enough, for as Welsh heavy industry ran down this small country on the western rim of Europe become a manufactory of world class actors, from Richard Burton through Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce to Michael Sheen, a production line which shows little sign of stopping. A national Welsh language company, Theatr Genedlaethol, established in 2003, set the scene, as it were, for a new National Theatre Wales working in English, which started producing new work in spring 2010. This new company has just embarked upon its ambitious first year, with site-specific productions mapping all parts of Wales, incuding a production of Aeschylus‟ Persians on a military range, work staged on north Wales beaches and ending with a huge community venture in the steel town of Port Talbot under the direction of Michael Sheen. NTW‟s work will complement the output of established companies such as Clwyd Theatr Cymru and Milford Haven‟s Torch Theatre, where the artistic guidance of Terry Hands and Peter Doran respectively has shaped fine and memorable productions year on year. Performance art of all kinds has its place too and practitioners such as Marc Rees, whose often intimate and autobiographical work investigates the homoerotic and Eddie Ladd‟s intensely realized works such as „Scarface‟ and “The Bobby Sands Memorial Race‟ which couple sense of place with urgency of expression have helped them establish international reputations and a legion of creative connections.