About Me
Celf Cambria Arts is a voluntary arts association based in Tregaron, a tiny market town nestling against the Cambrian Mountains in Ceredigion, Mid-Wales. Celf Cambria Arts was established in December 1996 (a Registered Charity since August 1999), formed to promote education in the arts, culture and enivironment.
How did it start? Late in 1996, Hilary Booth, now the company secretary, heard a radio broadcast which identified the Lottery as a major source of funding for the arts and approached Llanddewi Brefi (yes, it does exist outside Little Britain!) Community Council with the idea of applying to the lottery for funds to improve facilities at the village hall. They suggested that she call a meeting to test the public’s response to the idea. The meeting took place in December that year and a steering committee was formed with the intention of examining the possibilities of arts funding. The committee then decided that they needed to raise some funds and came up with the idea of a small arts festival to be held in the village hall. The group needed a name and Cymdeithas Celf Cambria Arts Association was born.
From the outset, there has been a membership structure for those who wish to show their support for the association. In appreciation, Celf Cambria Arts offers various benefits for being a member.
The first Easter Arts Festival, as it became known, was held in Llanddewi Brefi Village Hall beginning on Easter Saturday 29th March 1997. Almost a thousand people enjoyed an opening day craft fair, a day of music performance and a week-long open art exhibition, and the event raised a thousand pounds for the group. It was a stunning success for a completely new concept in a village with a population numbering only around five hundred.
With this success under our belts and having taken advice from several sources, Celf Cambria Arts decided to become an incorporated association and a company limited by guarantee. We also decided to make their first application to the Lottery, through the Arts Council of Wales. The Arts Council awarded £15,000 towards the cost of capital equipment, including a computer and printer, photocopier, PA and lighting.
Since 1998 Celf Cambria Arts have managed to attract grants and sponsorships from various sources, including the Arts Council of Wales, Performing Rights Society Foundation, County and Community Councils and local businesses. In 1999 the organisation became a Registered Charity. The company turnover has gone from around £2,000 in 1997 to over £80,000 and continues to rise steadily.
Celf Cambria Arts administers a regular programme of live music, which features some of the finest musicians from throughout the world, consisting of around thirty performances a year. ‘Live at the Talbot’, a CD featuring exclusive live performances by many of the artists appearing during the 2003 season, was released in November 2004 by Red Kite Records, a mid Wales record label owned by Grammy Award Winning sound engineer, Martin Levan.
In November 2001 Celf Cambria Arts opened Oriel Cambria Gallery on the main square in Tregaron. The gallery was a pilot project for creating a fully-fledged arts centre in Tregaron. We now rent the gallery at Rhiannon, and hope to eventually take over the whole building to eventually realise our overall aim all those years ago.
We continue to extend our educational work, running regular workshops in music and visual arts, featuring some of the artists from both the live music programme and art gallery. Celf Cambria Arts works closely with schools in the area, providing workshop opportunities with professional contemporary artists and musicians.
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