Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru | |
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Welsh Government Sponsored Body overview | |
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Formed | 1946 |
Jurisdiction | Welsh Government |
Headquarters | Wales Millennium Centre, Bute Place, Cardiff 51°27′55″N3°09′45″W / 51.4653°N 3.1625°W |
Minister responsible | |
Welsh Government Sponsored Body executive |
The Arts Council of Wales (ACW; Welsh : Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru) is a Welsh Government-sponsored body [1] , responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.
Established within the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council (Welsh : Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru), [2] its English name was changed to the Arts Council of Wales when it was independently established by royal charter on 30 March 1994 [3] (the Welsh name remained the same), upon its merger with the three Welsh regional arts associations. It became accountable to the National Assembly for Wales on 1 July 1999, when responsibility was transferred from the Secretary of State for Wales.
The Welsh Government provides ACW with money to fund the arts in Wales. ACW also distributes National Lottery funding for the arts in Wales, allocated by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The Arts Council of Wales is a registered charity under English and Welsh law [4] and has a board of trustees who meet six times a year, chaired by Maggie Russell [5] . Apart from the Chair, Council members are not paid; they are appointed by the Welsh Government. The Arts Council of Wales has offices in Colwyn Bay, Carmarthen and Cardiff. Dafydd Rhys is its chief executive officer.
The Arts Council partners with the National Eisteddfod of Wales to produce its annual "Y Lle Celf" exhibition of Welsh art, craft and design. [6]
In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term eisteddfod, which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: eistedd, meaning 'sit', and fod, meaning 'be', means, according to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "sitting-together." Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron.
Ammanford is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. At the 2021 census the community had a population of 5,445, and the wider built up area had a population of 8,285.
Pwllheli is a market town and community on the Llŷn Peninsula, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It had a population of 4,076 in 2011, which declined slightly to 3,947 in 2021; a large proportion (81%) were Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of the Welsh poet Sir Albert Evans-Jones.
Urdd Gobaith Cymru is Wales' largest youth organisation. It provides sports, arts, volunteering, apprenticeship, outdoor pursuits, humanitarian, international and residential opportunities for children and young people through the medium of Welsh.
The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitors typically number 6,000 or more, and overall attendance generally exceeds 100,000 visitors, the highest recently being 186,000 attending the 2024 festival in Pontypridd. The 2018 Eisteddfod was held in Cardiff Bay with a fence-free 'Maes'. In 2020, the event was held virtually under the name AmGen; events were held over a one-week period.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1980 to Wales and the Welsh people.
Ysgol Gyfun y Strade is a Welsh-medium comprehensive school and sixth form in the town of Llanelli, Wales. It opened in September 1977 as a mixed gender school. In 2022 there were 1,209 pupils enrolled at the school.
Geraint Talfan Davies OBE DL FRIBA FLSW is a Welsh journalist and broadcaster, and a long-serving trustee and chairman of many Welsh civic, arts, media and cultural organisations.
Ruth Jên is a Welsh artist, working in the old shoe shop in the village of Tal-y-bont, Ceredigion.
Y Bandana are a Welsh language alternative rock band that formed in Caernarfon in 2008. The band is composed of brothers Tomos Owens (keyboard) and Siôn Owens, their cousin Gwilym Bowen Rhys and Robin Jones (percussion). They are known for combining humorous lyrics with catchy melodies.
Geoff Charles was a Welsh photojournalist. His collection of over 120,000 images is being conserved and digitised by the National Library of Wales. In 1985 he was inducted into the Gorsedd of the Bards at the National Eisteddfod in Lampeter taking the bardic name 'Sieffre o Brymbo'.
Ivor Davies, is a Welsh artist. He currently lives and works in Penarth, and largely works using the Welsh language.
David Garner is a Welsh installation artist known for his use of found objects and overtly political themes.
Emrys Pugh Roberts was a Welsh nationalist political activist.
Myrddin ap Dafydd is a Welsh writer, publisher and chaired bard. In 2018 he was elected Archdruid of Wales.
The Gold Medal of the National Eisteddfod of Wales is awarded annually in three categories for excellence in Fine Art, Architecture, or Craft and Design.
Y Lle Celf is an annual art, craft and architecture exhibition held during the National Eisteddfod of Wales, claimed to be the biggest temporary art exhibition in Europe.
The 2018 Cardiff National Eisteddfod was held in Cardiff Bay, Wales, from 3 to 11 August 2018. It was the seventh time the National Eisteddfod of Wales had been held in Cardiff. The 2018 event was billed as the Eisteddfod with "No fences" because it dispensed with the traditional enclosed 'Maes', or entrance fees to the event location. It made a £290,000 loss, but its popularity led to the suggestion of future Eisteddfods without fences.
Tŷ Pawb is an arts centre in Wrexham, Wales. It serves as a venue for arts, cultural and community events, as well as being a market and art gallery. A redevelopment of the former Wrexham People's Market between Chester Street and Market Street in Wrexham city centre, the community centre opened on 2 April 2018. It provides exhibitions, a gallery, a food court, small stage concerts and live events, as well as a market space for local traders and the relocation of Oriel Wrecsam. A multi-storey car park is located on top of Tŷ Pawb, on the building's upper floors.
The National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales is a proposed branded network of art galleries distributing Wales' existing contemporary art collection. It is being developed by a partnership of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, the Arts Council of Wales, the Welsh Government and the National Library of Wales. The proposal formed part of the 2021 Welsh Labour–Plaid Cymru agreement.