Review: British Council Takeover Cardiff
Takeover Cardiff
Saturday 5th October 2013
Various Venues, Cardiff
Recently the British Council took over some of our capital’s finest cultural venues for young people to curate and showcase everything from hip hop to animation.
I went along to check out the action, in what turned into a full-on day of top class entertainment. And some frantic business card exchanging.
During the day’s launch at the Senedd, Literature Wales presented a group poem performed by sixteen Cardiff teenagers before a troupe from Rubicon presented a dynamic selection of Ethiopian dance, especially since it was taught over Skype. The Young Promoters Network, who also hosted various pop up gigs around the city centre throughout the day, presented singer-songwriter Dan Bettridge who played a thoughtful set of tunes as thoughts turned from launch to lunch. Over two hundred young people were set to perform during the day and this was but an appetising taster.
The afternoon soon snaked its way around Cardiff. Community Music Wales brought together Ghanaian musicians Bale Nimba and students from Plasmawr for an energising performance on the Glanfa Stage at the Millennium Centre while the Young People’s Laureate Martin Daws stunned a healthy crowd at Central Library with a lively and profound half-an-hour of spoken word. Joined by two other poets who work to inspire young people into poetry, the event attracted plenty of passing traffic and was a highlight of the day.
Youth centre cum music studio Grassroots set up shop in the National Museum and mixed hip hop from Cardiff with poetry from a young South African. Despite the venue’s awful acoustics, the combination was seamless and maintained the international feel that the takeover promoted.
Short animations by young South Walians then aired at Chapter Arts Centre, one of the city’s finest venues, which is becoming ever accessible to young people. Events like this certainly open up spaces that can be seen as distant to the general public and encourage different people to mingle and share creative ideas and Twitter accounts.
The day is set to be evaluated and fed into the Arts Council of Wales consultation on Youth led Arts festivals, ahead of a proposed week-long programme in 2014. If the body can promote the event a little better and maintain the high quality of performance on show this weekend, then they are on to a winner.
Events » November 2013's Sprout Editorial Group Meeting
Info » Sport & Leisure » Performing Arts » Music
Organisations » Grassroots (Cardiff) Ltd
Organisations » Cardiff Youth Council
Articles » Categories » Music
