Croeso i drafodaeth 'da fi ar y we, gyda newyddion cerddoriaeth, ffilmiau, barddoniaeth, ffuglen, dramau, a storiau byr y Gymru. Welcome to my online symposium, your one source for news and reviews about new and old, Welsh Music, Film, Poetry, Fiction, Dramas, and Short Stories. A (mostly) English language forum of Minority Celtic Language, Culture & Politics in Music and Film.
It is our pleasure to present the first (of many) research seminar(s) in the new building and an even greater pleasure to welcome Dr. Heike Roms.
'What's Welsh for Performance?: Constructing an Archive of Performance Art in Wales'
DR. HEIKE ROMS
WEDNESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2007
5PM
Please come to the ATRiuM Reception, Room to be announced.
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED
ALL WELCOME!
This presentation introduces What¹s Welsh for Performance? (Beth yw performance yn Gymraeg?), a major research project devoted to uncovering and archiving the history of performance art in Wales.
Performance art is now widely recognized as representing a vital part of the visual arts in this country, yet one currently searches in vain for any records or critical evaluations of its practices in accounts of Welsh art history.
The project is an attempt to address this neglect.
The presentation discusses some of the methodological implications of archiving performance work with reference to the first ten years of the art form after its initial appearance in Wales in 1968, before presenting the two main strands of the Welsh performance and a publicly staged Oral History series.
Dr Heike Roms is lecturer in Performance Studies in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University.
She has published on contemporary performance practice, particularly on work emanating from Wales, for publications such as Performance Research, Inter, Frakcija, Live Art Magazine, New Welsh Review, Planet and Cyfrwng.
She is project director of What's Welsh for Performance?, a major research project devoted to uncovering and archiving the history of performance art in Wales (www.performance-wales.org).
A major new film festival has been launched, taking place in Aberystwyth from 25 -28 October 2007. Fflics - Wales Screen Classics is a four-day film festival showcasing the history of both Welsh cinema and the Welsh on the big screen; from the earliest cinematic pioneers until the end of the nitrate film era.
Gwyl Ffilm Fflics Film Festival
Fflics is a joint project between The National Library of Wales and Aberystwyth Arts Centre, and will include over 25 films filmed in the first half of the 20th century, together with a series of discussions, live musical performances and special events.
Cinematic highlights include a restoration print screening of 'How Green Was My Valley' the premier screening of the newly restored 'Y Chwarelwr', a gala screening of 'The Life Story of David Lloyd George', plus many, many more films from a classic era.
Andrew Green, Librarian, The National Library of Wales said:
'Fflics is a wonderful opportunity to mark Wales' early contributions to the world of cinema, and to see the films on the big screen where they belong.
We are sure that the festival will appeal to a wide range of people - from cinema buffs keen to see work that is rarely screened, to those keen to gain an historical perspective of Wales in the first half of the century.
Its going to be a fascinating four days.'
Fflics offers a unique opportunity of seeing and discussing rarely seen classics on the big screen. Cinematic classics will include:
How Green Was My Valley * Proud Valley * Silent Village * Corn is Green * Jerry The Tyke * Blue Scar * Valley of Song * The Citadel * Fame is the Spur* Dead of Night * Y Chwarelwr (The Quarryman) * Run for your Money * The Rat * Shop at Sly Corner * Stars Look Down * Call of the Blood * The Life Story of David Lloyd George * Next of Kin * David * The Last Days of Dolwyn* The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp * Plus Shorts by Arthur Cheetham
The festival's website is now live, and will be regularly updated over the next few months as additional events are confirmed. Gold Passes, which provide entry to every event over the four days will be on sale from 8th June, with early bird booking discounts on offer.
More information please contact the following: For Fflics festival - Llinos Medi Jones, 01970 632 534, lmj@llgc.org.uk For National Library - Aberystwyth Arts Centre: Louise Amery 01970 6222889, lla@aber.ac.uk
North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History (NAASWCH)
International Conference on Welsh Studies -- Call for Papers
July 31-August 2, 2008 The Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
The NAASWCH Program Committee seeks diverse perspectives on Wales and Welsh culture
-- as well as proposals focused on the Welsh in North America
-- from many disciplines including: history, literature, languages, art, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, philosophy, music, and religion.
NAASWCH invites participation from faculty, postgraduate/graduate students and independent scholars from North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Those wishing to present a paper suitable for a 20 minute reading may submit an abstract (maximum one-page). Proposals for thematic sessions, panel presentations, or other formats are also welcome.
Please include a brief (one-page) vita with your submission. The abstract – proposal deadline is Dec. 21, 2007; but early proposals are encouraged.
Participants will be notified by mid-February. E-mail submissions are welcome and will be acknowledged promptly.
If you have not received confirmation of your electronic submission within one week, please resend the document.
NAASWCH works to promote scholarship on all aspects of Welsh culture and history;
to develop connections between teachers and scholars in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom who are committed to the study of Welsh culture, history, language, and literature;
to provide an intellectual forum in which scholars and teachers of Welsh culture may share their research and teaching experience, and to provide support for the study of Welsh-North American history and culture.
See the NAASWCH website for additional information:
Please submit abstracts or session proposals by no later than Friday, Dec. 21, 2007 to:
Dr. Katharine Anderson, History Department, Ohio Dominican University, 1216 Sunbury Road, Columbus, OH 43219, USA; andersok1@ohiodominican.edu .
Those who are not submitting proposals but would like to receive conference information should contact: Dr. Melinda Gray, NAASWCH Secretary, 15 Woodbridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA; mgrayk@comcast.net.
[Pictured above: Rhyl Harbour, a painting by Dr. Ivor Davies, a member of the Welsh Group. Ifor Davies looks at the background of a picture which features many of the grey, stark characteristics of a typical Lowry picture but also a greater element of colour. He takes Lowry's work as the inspiration to create his own painting of the scene. It took a great deal of persuasion with Ifor Davies to do this, who is not a great admirer of Lowry. To change Ifor's mind, he was taken to Lowry’s hometown of Salford, near Manchester and the impressive Lowry Salford Quays Centre. Rhyl Harbour was painted at a difficult time in Lowry’s life, some time after his mother’s death in 1939. As a child, Lowry had spent many a summer holiday in the Welsh seaside town, and that may explain why it has more colour than his more well-known industrial landscapes. However, loneliness and desolation are evident in this seascape too, particularly in the darkening sky. (quoted from http://www.s4c.co.uk/bydoliw/ e_lowry.shtml)]
Welsh Group Artists Exhibition
The Welsh Group, the senior organisation of professional artists in Wales, are set to hold an exhibition of their work at Rhondda Heritage Park Gallery from 28 September until 18 November.
The Group was founded as the South Wales Group almost 60 years ago and as its membership grew to take in artists from all over Wales the name was changed to the Welsh Group in 1975.
Its members include many well known names including Ivor Davies who was awarded the MBE for services to Welsh art in the New Year's Honours List and over the years some of the best-known artists in the Principality have exhibited with the Group.
Included among the exhibitors in the exhibition will be an unusually large number of new members, who were all elected at the last annual general meeting of the Group; Paul Brewer, Wendy Earle, Veronica Gibson, Chris Griffin, Antonia Spowers, Claudia Williams, Thomasin Toohie and Pip Wolf.
The Group has a membership of around 40 but the last two years have been particularly sad ones for Welsh art with the deaths of a number of distinguished figures, either current members or artists long associated with the Welsh Group.
They included Sir Kyffin Williams, Peter Prendergast, Bert Isaac, Tony Goble, Peter Bailie and Laurie Williams.
These artists helped create a new reputation for Wales as a centre of powerful landscape painting and other artistic activity when, not so long ago, there was a tendency to claim that the nation had no visual arts tradition.
They changed the face of Welsh art - Tony Goble and Peter Bailie not with landscapes but with works of mythic imagination and, where Bailie was concerned, witty constructions.
Although the passing of these dominant figures leaves a gap difficult to fill, the new members of the Group demonstrate the widening range of Welsh art today.
In particular the sculptor Antonia Spowers is unusual in the variety of materials she makes use of in her sculptures and constructions, including glass, polished metal, burnt wood, wire and feathers, and unusually there is often a political point at the back of her inventions.
Pip Woolf experiments in her paintings with pigments which she extracts herself from earths and minerals.
There are landscape painters among the newcomers including Veronica Gibson and Chris Griffin, but their approach is very different to that of the older generation. It should prove to be an interesting and unpredictable exhibition.
The Welsh Group exhibition can be seen at Rhondda Heritage Park from Friday 28 September until 18 November.
The Gallery is open daily between 10am-6pm until the end of September but closed on Mondays throughout November. Admission is free.
United Kingdom Literacy Association regional conference:
Time to Talk: Time to Write
Monday 24th September, Mason’s Arms, Cardiff
9.30am – 3.30pm
Speakers:
Daniel Morden: Internationally renowned storyteller and prize- winning author. Daniel works extensively in schools and has developed classroom resources to help teachers use narrative effectively.
Hamish Fyfe: Hamish Fyfe has worked as a teacher, actor, and researcher in a variety of contexts, before taking up his post as Chair of Arts in the Community at the University of Glamorgan.
His interests include digital storytelling with adults and children, an innovative way of exploring personal stories.
The speakers will be examining ways to engage children with narratives, both traditional and personal, and using oracy and digital technology to present these narratives.
This is a wonderful opportunity for quality CPD for all teachers interested in developing children’s self-esteem, emotional literacy, communication and presentation skills and use of new technologies across the primary phase.
Cost: UKLA members: £90 Non- members: £115
This includes lunch and refreshments.
School membership at £47.50 entitles two teachers to attend at member prices and the school will also receive three copies of Literacy, Literacy News and English 4-11 each year of membership. For parties of three or more special prices will also apply.
For further details please email jrharrett@beeb.net or ring Jacqui Harrett on 02920480442, 59 Egremont Road, Cardiff CF23 5LP. Numbers are limited so please book as soon as possible. Special rates for three or more attending from one school.
Emily Underwood
T: 01443 668631
E: efunderw@glam.ac.uk http://www.glam.ac.uk/storytelling George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling
Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries, ATRiuM, University of Glamorgan, Adam Street, Cardiff, CF24 2XF
Canolfan Adrodd Storïau George Ewart Evans
Ysgol Diwydiannau Creadigol a Diwylliannol Caerdydd, ATRiuM, Prifysgol Morgannwg, Stryd Adam, Caerdydd, CF24 2XF
[Pictured above: Welsh Mountain scenery and new state-of-the-art film and television studios are expected to lure productions to Wales.]
The BBC is reporting that the long-delayed Welsh film and television studios project in South Wales started last week, after almost six frustrating years of set-backs and delays.
"The first stage of the £330m development will be built at Llanilid, near Llanharan, following delays caused by sewerage problems and bad weather."
"Developers said the initial phase of the Dragon International Ltd plan would feature four film stages and work on a major access road."
"Construction on the first stage of the plan is set to finish by June 2008."
"Oscar-winning actor and director Richard Attenborough, who has been the project chairman, said in January 2006 the scheme would "build studios that have not been seen for decades throughout the world"."
"Organisers claim the sound stages and TV studios will make south Wales a centre of the UK film industry.'
A well-made short report on You Tube Video asks, "What happened to the Valleywood project? Six years ago, a consortium announced plans to build a major film studio in the Welsh Valleys, but things haven't quite gone to plan. Chris Doidge reports on the project's problems and its future":
Valleywood
The studio itself and it's related complex are expected to generate at least 1,700 new jobs at the site. Film studios and the film industry rely upon an enormous number of support vendors and suppliers and craftsmen, so there is also an anticipated positive economic impact expected over time on the entire region.
For example, the lengthy film credits at the end of every feature film, which a lot of audiences ignore, show a list of support workers, including everything from caterers, to florists to publicists to carpenters, needed to produce feature films and television products.
Wales's close proximity to London already gives it a competitive position in the UK media production market, and the lower costs in Wales when compared to southern England make Wales a logical choice for film and TV production managers.
Ultimately, the film and TV industry needs highly qualified and experienced workers in many support fields, but the bottom line of the production budget drives the choice of production studio location.
For years, U.S. and European film productions have been 'running away' to studios like Barrandov Studios (Prague) in the Czech Republic, because the costs are lower and scenery is splendid.
Wales's stands to challenge English and other European studios in their competition for film and TV productions for similar reasons.
Also, English studios are aging, built decades ago with now-obsolete technology, and are being threatened by other real estate encroachments in land-pricey southern England.
This is not the case in many parts of the South Wales Valleys, where former mining communities boost plenty of land for such development.
"The Council has worked with developers to help facilitate a start on site on 13th August."
"Four film stages for Dragon International Ltd and the provision of the western end of the major access road planned to run through the site, are the particular developments starting now."
"These form part of the major strategic development site based on the film studio's development, for which planning permission has already been granted by the Council."
"Considerable work has been completed over the past few months, with the Council working with Cofton Wales and Dragon International to make sure that all the planning conditions have been properly dealt with. Progress has been good."
"It is anticipated that the work on site will run through until next year with an expected substantial completion in June 2008."
Cllr Russell Roberts says “ I am delighted that we will soon see buildings coming out of the ground at Llanilid. The Council granted planning permission some time ago for this site, but it will be great to see the development kick started now with the Silent Stages and the other major infrastructure works.”
"Extraordinary plans were unveiled by executive chairman Lord Attenborough in 2001 a world class ultra-large state of the art movie studio complex as part of a development including movie-based leisure attractions and an international film academy, some parts to be completed by 2006 (now early 2008 and overall finish hopefully by 2010)."
"Cofton Wales, specialists in large-scale brownfield land regeneration, has announced that construction work will start at Llanilid, near Llanharan, on Monday 13th August."
"The planned work comprises two separate projects; the first is the construction of four film stages for Dragon International Studios and the second project is an artery road to service the first phase of a mixed-use commercial development."
"The scheme was granted outline planning permission by local authority Rhondda Cynon Taff in December 2003 and includes consent for a business park, hotel and leisure facilities in addition to the film studios."
mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]uk
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