News

The staff and board are very excited to welcome Bethan Touhig Gamble as the new Director for Span Arts! Span Arts are happy to announce the appointment of their new Director, Bethan Touhig Gamble. With Bethan’s recruitment, the board of Trustees have taken the strategic decisions for the role to become a full-time position. This added capacity and new perspective will be critical to support Span Arts to achieve its vision of Arts for social change in West Wales. Bethan first came across Span Arts when they partnered with NoFit State to bring the large-scale touring show, BIANCO to West Wales for the first time. With a background in community regeneration and community arts, Bethan joins Span Arts from almost a decade as Head of Development for NoFit State Circus. Alongside her work with NoFit State Bethan has lectured at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, as well as working as a fundraising consultant for a broad range of arts and volunteer charities across Wales. "On behalf of the Span Arts' Board of Trustees, I am delighted to welcome Bethan Touhig-Gamble to the post of Director. We very much feel that with our previous Director, Kathryn Lambert,  having [...]

Span Arts Director Are you passionate about the arts?  Do you want an opportunity to lead an exciting and vibrant organisation?   Are you a creative thinker with organisational flair, financial understanding and good people skills?  Span Arts, a community arts charity of 30 years’ standing based in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, is seeking a new Director to take overall responsibility for day to day running of the organisation, its events and projects. Working with a committed body of Trustees you will manage a small team of people and projects, ensuring long-term sustainability and a varied programme of live and digital arts projects and events.  Job title -  Span Arts Director Responsible to  - Span Arts Trustee Board Responsible for Staff and volunteer team Location - Narberth Salary - Salary from £26,000 to £30,000 FT, dependent on experience, future incremental increases dependent on performance Hours  - Part time 25 hours per week Some evening & weekend work will be required Main Purpose of Post To provide vision, leadership and management for the day to day running of Span Arts; ensure the organisation’s sustainability; maintain and develop the quality and diversity of its projects and programming; assure the strong marketplace position of the organisation. Click the link below for full: JOB DESCRIPTION & APPLICANT

Span Arts teams up with Taking Flight and LAS theatre to reintroduce families to theatre, indulge their imaginations and get kids and their grown-ups working together to solve a mystery in the great outdoors. Lockdown has been, at best, a long hard slog for everyone. We've had no access to the things we love- restaurants, cafes, museums... and of course theatre and family events. As the world begins to open back up, with light at the end of the tunnel for theatres and theatre fans alike, two theatre companies have teamed up with their venue counterparts to create The Curious Case of Aberlliw, an accessible outdoor digital adventure in three parts – to get those creative juices flowing as we prepare to get back into our beloved venues. Elise Davison, Artistic Director of Taking Flight explains “We really wanted to create something for families to enjoy together, to get outside and to problem solve.  Over the last year, we have continued to work on productions using various digital platforms. We used the time as an opportunity to be able to explore ways of providing an equality of experience that isn’t just streaming, that goes some way to create immersive events that

After missing a year, Span Arts is delighted to announce that The Festival Players Theatre Company returns to the enchanting setting of Lampeter House, to celebrate another year of Outdoor Shakespeare. For this special occasion and their 35th Year of touring, Festival Players International brings you Shakespeare’s most popular History Play, HENRY V. After a rebellious and spirited youth hood, carousing in the taverns of London, Prince Hal takes on the responsibility of Kingship and leads his troops, of low and high station, across the Channel to do battle with the French at Agincourt. Follow the charismatic King Henry the Fifth in this stirring tale of leadership, bravery, humour, and love; two hours of exhilarating entertainment for a summer’s evening. This year, the show will take place on the 20th of August at 7pm. Refreshments and snacks will be available from the bar. Lampeter House, located in the village of Lampeter Velfry, just outside Narberth, provides the perfect setting for outdoor Shakespeare with a small amphitheatre-style theatre built into the beautiful grounds of this lovely estate. As this is outdoor theatre the audience is encouraged to be prepared for any weathers, as the show will go on, rain or shine. Due to

Cân Sing, Span’s fortnightly singing workshop for all singing abilities is looking for a new singing leader.  Cân Sing, Span Arts’ fortnightly singing group is a wonderful, diverse and friendly group of singers who share in the uplifting benefits of singing.  Throughout lockdown, Span Arts continued to offer Can Sing workshops online but now that we return to in person events and activities, we are on the hunt for a new singing leader who can inspire and support the group to develop their natural singing ability and build an accepting, non-judgmental community that enjoys singing together.  Cân Sing enjoy singing a wide range of songs from around the world with a particular focus on natural voice singing and welcomes all voices.   Cân Singers tell us that singing with Cân Sing is “Stimulating, connecting and heart-warming” with “with just the right mix of warm up, chat and song.”  Are you an experienced singing leader, workshop facilitator or singer who wants to make a difference in the community?  Then this is the perfect role for you.  Span Arts can provide the setting (indoors, outdoors or online depending on restrictions), an hourly fee of £35 per hour and all administrative, marketing and covid safety support.  We are looking for an experienced singing leader, who is good with people and can make people feel safe and welcome and confident to sing, whatever their singing ability.  To find out more about the role

Deadline: Monday 26th July Delivery: August – September 2021 Span Arts is inviting West Wales based artists, musicians, creative practitioners and or collectives to create new work for our Summer project Love stories to Nature – Straeon / Cariad at Natur.  We are looking for artistic responses to the call for the arts to help contribute to recovery, wellbeing and help to solve the climate crisis ‘by telling stories that persuade people to ‘fall in love with nature again’ and prompt people to get outdoors and enjoy Pembrokeshire. We will select up to 4 artists to create an artistic response, in any art form, that begins a conversation between artists and the people of Pembrokeshire about nature, the environment, sustainability and wellbeing. We are open to applications from individuals, partnerships or collectives who are able to creatively respond to the brief and provide a way for people to take part. We are looking for blended proposals; by which we mean projects which take place online or in person, or ideally a mixture of both so that audiences/participants may take part digitally or physically, indoors or outdoors. We invite you to suggest ideas you would like to grow together. This project will

Click  here  to fill out our short questionnaire and help us shape the future of Span Arts! We are a vibrant community arts charity,  with a 30 year history of bringing the arts to rural Pembrokeshire. We are driven by the core belief that the arts have the power to improve people’s lives and wellbeing. We are now thinking ahead to a time beyond the pandemic, and would like to know what you think the future should look like. We believe in the power of the arts to bring positive social change, but what that change should look like is up to you, the people of Pembrokeshire. It is your opinions that matter, and that will shape what SPAN offers to Pembrokeshire over the coming years. So, we want to hear from you, about your hopes for the arts in Pembrokeshire. What is your experience of the arts, and what would you like to see in the future? There is increasing evidence that the arts are beneficial to us all in many ways, including in providing opportunities for social connections, creativity, fun, and in providing benefits for both our physical and mental health. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen time

Span Arts is seeking to recruit new Board members to its Trustee Board to help guide and support our leadership team through recovery and reopening and help to shape a viable post-covid arts offer for Pembrokeshire. We are open to new ideas and approaches as we want to find new ways of working to achieve our mission to make ‘Art as social change in rural Wales.’ SPAN is a vibrant forward-looking community arts charity which aims to deliver high quality arts projects and events to the people of west Wales. Based in Narberth, since lockdown Span has continued to operate online, with staff working from home, using digital technology to enable us to continue to offer arts experiences, from Theatr Soffa, our online community theatre productions to online music gigs, workshops and The Kindness Project. SPAN has offered a creative community service throughout the pandemic to help people feel connected, have fun and combat loneliness and social isolation through arts engagement. We are now looking for experienced, passionate and well connected new board members, with the energy and ambition to help steer Span Arts into the future. We are looking for a diverse group of board members, with expertise and

This project has now come to a close, but you can still listen to the full radio ballad here!  Interviews: Friday 23rd July   We are inviting Wales based sound/music/radio producers to work on a co-created bilingual radio ballad Cân y Ffordd Euraidd / The Song of the Golden Road, part of PLANED’s National Lottery Heritage funded Ein Cymdogaeth Werin - Preseli Heartlands Communities project which is being produced by Span.      There are three strands to this brief:  Music and Sound Recording Fee £1000  Community music making/song-writing Fee £1800 (3 x 600)  Radio Ballad Production and Broadcast Event Fee £2500   All fees are inclusive of VAT, travel expenses and material costs.   Though each strand can be applied for separately we are open to applications from individuals, partnerships or collectives who are able to creatively fulfil a combination of, or all elements of the brief as outlined below:  Music and Sound Recording   Fee £1000 5 days @ £200.00 inclusive of VAT, travel expenses and material costs. We are looking for an experienced sound recorder with access to their own recording equipment to attend the remaining Song of the Golden Road community workshops capturing audio content from the days including a guided walk across the Golden Road.  Workshops are scheduled to take place on the 31st July, 14th August and 21st August and will include a mixture of indoor and outdoor recording.  This recorded content will be used in forming the final radio ballad.  The sound recorder will also work with the Span Community Producer and Radio Ballad Producer to

An online artistic programme to reduce isolation and loneliness, alleviate fear, stress and boredom, and build community networks in Pembrokeshire.
This programme had its roots in Span Digidol, enabling us to respond quickly to the COVID crisis.

An online artistic programme to reduce isolation and loneliness, alleviate fear, stress and boredom, and build community networks in Pembrokeshire.
This programme had its roots in Span Digidol, enabling us to respond quickly to the COVID crisis.

Thank you for booking your Theatr Soffa seat for Span Arts production of Under Milk Wood in Lock Down! This rehearsed reading will go live at 8pm on 20th June 2020. The production features a community cast – a full cast list will be published here after the performance. The performance lasts c. 60 minutes and is rated PG.  There will be no interval so get your refreshments ready! As a ticket holder we ask you politely not to share this link or to record the performance as it is broadcast. This is a live theatre event performed remotely. To view the production in full screen click on Under Milk Wood in the top left corner. We hope you enjoy the show! https://youtu.be/jt1opanxF9I In the event of any technical difficulties.  Please be patient and the stream will resume as soon as possible. If you have enjoyed this performance and would like to watch similar productions in the future please consider donating by clicking the link below: Donate here!  

As part of National Volunteer Week, Span Arts would like to say a huge THANK YOU to our amazing volunteers, many of whom have been isolating alone for the last 10 weeks. Whilst on lockdown our volunteers have enjoyed getting together weekly for a new online Volunteer Skill Share programme. They have been sharing an incredibly array of skills from gardening to poetry, mindfulness to Welsh. What a talented bunch you are! SPAN Volunteer Nicola told us “Getting together digitally has been such a boost to my wellbeing and really made the shutdown more bearable. Being engaged with others sharing skills in an online environment was a 1st for me and helped me feel connected to others and less isolated and worried.” If you are feeling lonely, bored or frustrated or just want to be part of something friendly and creative then why don’t you try one of our Skill Shares. Simply email Siobhan@span-arts-dev.co.uk to find out more. Create and Connect Film As part of National Volunteer’s Week, we would like to highlight our amazing volunteers and their contribution to Pembrokeshire’s communities. This film captures just a few of the many Span volunteers as they talk about why they volunteer and what they hope

This May, to coincide with International Dylan Thomas Day, Span Arts Pembrokeshire’s much loved community arts organisation is embarking on an exciting new digital venture.  Calling on the many talents of their volunteers and the wider community we are working towards an online performance of Under Milk Wood through online video conferencing with the ambition to live stream to YouTube for digital theatre-goers to enjoy. The venture has come about through Span’s Digidol project which has been piloting ways in which digital technology can be used creatively to help with issues such as social well being and rural isolation.  The project could not be more timely given the continuing restrictions on our daily lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic as we continue to be advised to #StayAtHome. Whilst we may not be able to visit our favourite seaside places or go about our normal daily business we can still dream.  The play idea was born when the span team held their first video conference team meeting having closed their offices at in Narberth to continue working from home.  How would it be to perform a play in these conditions?  Under Milk Wood seemed the ideal choice to try it out.