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Clwb Digi – Creative Technology Sessions for Young People

Since February 2018 Span Arts have been running monthly arts and technology sessions for young people at our offices in Narberth. Clwb Digi was set up initially to cater for 8 – 12 year olds and has introduced young people to a number of different activities ranging from animation, app making, electric painting and live looping. The series kicked off with attendees taking part in the Span Arts animation competition to create an ident for Span Digidol.  The winning animations appear in this short film: The sessions have been held from 10am to 1pm on Saturday mornings. Participant feedback from recent sessions has stated: “It was fun and challenging to do.” “Very entertaining and easy to follow.” “Got to do what you wanted to do in the activity.” Clwb Digi was developed through Span Arts’ Digidol project funded by LEADER and the Arts Council of Wales which was set up to explore new ways in which digital technology can be used creatively to increase connectivity and reduce loneliness and social isolation. Clwb Digi is one of ten pilot projects that Span Digidol has been testing since the project began in May 2018 and has been exceptionally well received – 100% of […]

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Help us add to the Span ‘deep’ map – Map Digi Penfro!

Map Digi Penfro is an online digital map that allows people to record information that is important to them about the places they live in and pass through.  Information can be recorded as text or image including photographs, drawings, audio recordings and even short films. The project was developed over the past year as part of Span Digidol starting with an intensive weekend at Garn Fawr in July 2019 followed by day workshops in Narberth, Broad Haven and Newport. There is much of interest to see and hear.  Equally you may have your own points of interest to add.  We’d love you to add to the map! View the map here. For more information about the project take a look at this film made after our first mapping weekend: For more information about previous workshops see our blog posts: Narberth: http://www.span-arts-dev.co.uk/news/map-digi-penfro-2-narberth/#.XnKlryOLR0c Broad Haven and St Brides Bay: http://www.span-arts-dev.co.uk/news/map-digi-penfro-3-broad-haven-and-st-brides-bay/#.XnKlJSOLR0c Newport: http://www.span-arts-dev.co.uk/news/map-digi-penfro-4-newport-and-carn-ingli/#.XnKlYCOLR0c Map Digi Penfro has been developed through Span Arts’ Digidol project funded by LEADER and the Arts Council of Wales which is exploring new ways in which digital technology can be used creatively to increase connectivity and reduce loneliness and social isolation.

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Map Digi Penfro #4 – Newport and Carn Ingli

Saturday 29th February, Newport Memorial Hall, SA42 0TF, 10am – 4pm The Digidol project Map Digi Penfro heads to Newport Memorial Hall on Saturday 29th February with a day exploring a pioneering landscape with significance to issues of sustainability in agriculture and energy today. Span Digidol will be joined by Annie Sears who will share her own story of coming to Newport and the pioneering life of her parents who farmed at Fachongle.  There will also be a short film screening showing some of John Seymour’s work as a broadcaster and early advocate of sustainability. In the afternoon local guide and spoon carver Steve Jenkins will lead a short walk through Cwm Clydach and the day will conclude with a visit to Fachongle. The day will also be an opportunity to share stories and knowledge about Newport with the intention of recording the information collected onto the map in order to create a ‘deep map’ of Newport, rich in voice and content. Map Digi Penfro is an online digital map that allows people to record information that is important to them about the places they live in and pass through.  Information can be recorded as text or image including photographs, drawings, audio recordings

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Map Digi Penfro #3 – Broad Haven and St Brides Bay

Saturday 1st February, Broad Haven Youth Hostel, Broad Haven, SA62 3JH 10am – 4pm The Digidol project Map Digi Penfro continues with a hands on workshop at Broad Haven Youth Hostel on Saturday February 1st.  Map Digi Penfro is an online digital map that allows people to record information that is important to them about the places they live in and pass through.  Information can be recorded as text or image including photographs, drawings, audio recordings and even short films. The day will be an opportunity to share stories and knowledge about Broad Haven with the intention of recording the information collected onto the map in order to create a ‘deep map’ of Broad Haven, rich in voice and content. Attendees to the Broad Haven Map Digi Penfro Day are encouraged to bring items such as documents, photographs and objects that might hold information about Broad Haven and the surrounding area as well as their own stories about the place. In preparation for the day Span Digidol have also enlisted the help of Broad Haven Primary School who are investigating their school archive to find materials to put on the map.  This follows on from an animation workshop Span Digidol

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Map Digi Penfro #2 – Narberth

7th December, Span Arts, Town Moor, Narberth 10am – 4pm Map Digi Penfro, the Pembrokeshire ‘deep mapping’ project returns for another community mapping day in Narberth on December 7th.  The day is an opportunity to share stories and knowledge about Narberth with the intention of recording information to an online map in order to create a ‘deep map’ of the town and surrounding area. https://deep-map.azurewebsites.net/ The term ‘deep map’ relates to a practice that has special relevance to Pembrokeshire.  In the Spring of 2002 artist and theatre director Cliff McLucas (1945-2002) walked the whole of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path with the intention of creating a Deep Map, combining landscape picture with other media including text, diary, sound recording and moving image onto a multi-layered map. Attendees to the Narberth mapping day are encouraged to bring items such as documents, photographs and objects that might hold information about Narberth through time and space as well as their own stories about the town.  In preparation for the day Span Digidol have enlisted the help of their Clwb Digi members who have been trained in digital recording, photography and how to upload materials to the map. According to McLucas’ mapping manifesto, “Deep maps

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Map Digi Penfro Launched at Theatr Gwaun

Map Digi Penfro is now available to view online and can be accessed at the following address: http://j.mp/mapdigipenfro. A successful film screening and launch of the digital community mapping project Map Digi Penfro was held at Theatr Gwaun in Fishguard on Friday 13th September and attended by some sixty people.  The project is part of our Span Digidol project funded by the Arts Council of Wales and the Arwain Sir Benfro Leader programme. The project seeks to fuse arts and technology to deal with issues such as rural isolation, loneliness and community well-being. Map Digi Penfro seeks to map the places of Pembrokeshire from many and diverse perspectives by means of an interactive online map which continues to be open to contributions.  The map has been developed by Span Digidol’s Digital Champion Alan Cameron Wills, a retired computer programmer who now lives in Moylegrove.  Following on from his work on the Moylegrove History Map Alan was invited by SPAN to develop a mapping tool for the whole of Pembrokeshire.  The map was then tested over an intensive weekend at the beginning of July at Garn Fawr, an iron age Hill fort on the Strumble Head peninsula.   A range of experts including

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Remote Choir Project featured in NHS Case Study

In March 2019 our project Remote Choir / Côr Pellenig, which took place in 2018, was highlighted as an example of how the arts can contribute to tackling a key priority of the NHS in a briefing paper for the Cross Party Group on Arts and Health for the Welsh NHS Confederation.  News of the project had reached Wales Arts and Health Network, who approached Span to commission a short film documenting the project, funded by the Arts Council of Wales. The briefing paper included three film case studies of how arts based initiatives are being used to tackle loneliness and isolation to improve people’s health and wellbeing.  Watch the newly commissioned film here: Remote Choir / Côr Pellenig combined the words and voices of older people who love singing but were isolated because they found it difficult to get out and about due to health or age-related issues. The project worked with 1o people over the age of 60 who live with poor mobility.  Some participants lived with early onset dementia, others with long term or chronic conditions such as diabetes, ME, Autism or MS.  From the comfort of their own homes and care homes, participants took part in a series

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DigiVeg – Where Vegetables Meet Digital Technology!

At Span Arts we’ve recently started Span Digidol; a new and exciting 2-year project trialling innovative digital technology to get the people of Pembrokeshire’s creative juices flowing! When Narberth Food Festival approached us to see if we wanted to get involved we leapt at the chance to do something fun and bizarre.  After thinking long and hard about how food could meet the world of digital art, we came up with the DigiVeg concept. In essence: using vegetables to make sounds, recording them and programming them into a computer to make electronic music.  Have you ever wondered how to make a root-flute or carrot clarinet? Or play a digital vegetable keyboard? No? Well, this could be just the thing you never knew you needed to know!  Span Arts is teaming up with electronic musician Andy Wheddon for two 1-day workshops in vegetable instrument making, sound-sampling and simple programming using Raspberry Pis (mini computers) to create vegetable keyboards for electronic music making.  At the end of each day from 4-5 pm, we will be taking the vegetable keyboards outside into the carpark for public demonstration via our PA system. We’ll be sharing some of the best electronic music created by workshop participants and giving the public the opportunity to have a go!  Take a look at our promo video! Workshop details:   Sat 22 &

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Span Arts Is Delivering With Digidol

Span Arts is thrilled to announce a funding boost of £92,000 for Span Digidol, an ambitious new digital arts project to develop a new way of delivering cultural services to rural communities across the whole of Pembrokeshire over the next two years. Sing Online Arwain Sir Benfro - the Local Action Group (LAG) for Pembrokeshire, administered by PLANED have provided funding of £62,000 to Span Arts. This is funded through the LEADER programme, which is part of the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020, Funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. The funding from LEADER has also helped Span Arts to lever match funds of £30,000 from The Arts Council of Wales towards the project. Funding will go towards the recruitment of two highly motivated and exceptional individuals to become their Digital Engagement Officer and Creative Technologist to realise the ambitious plans of the project. Applications are been invited now at www.span-arts-dev.co.uk. Span Digidol will deliver a new Digital Engagement Policy and Plan, run a suite of creative and social activities that have been identified and adapted to deliver culture in Pembrokeshire through digital, and adopt a new set
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Remote Choir

Remote Choir or Côr Pellenig (in Welsh) is an innovative new singing project which aims to combine the words and voices of older people who experience loneliness and create an inspiring digital song. The Remote Choir project is working with 11 people connected by the fact that they are over the age of 50 and they struggle to get out of the house. The participants are a diverse group, who, for one reason or another have experienced their lives getting smaller and more isolated in recent years. Some participants are in the early stages of dementia, others are physically limited by conditions such as MS, Diabetes and chronic breathing problems. From the comfort of their own homes, participants are now taking part in a series of 1:2:1 singing workshops with talented Welsh singer-songwriter Molara Awen (Zion Train & Baka Beyond), supported by local volunteer Singing Buddies. As well as learning songs, breathing and relaxation techniques, participants are working with Molara to create a new song based on their stories and experiences, hopes and dreams. Loneliness is an issue of growing concern in the UK and a problem that disproportionately affects Pembrokeshire; a predominantly rural county with poor transport links and

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