Arts Council of Wales and Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru have announced a pilot scheme to assist arts freelancers to improve their Welsh language skills through the National Centre for learning Welsh.
Alongside Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, the Arts Council of Wales will provide bursaries to 20 freelancers from the performing arts sector to attend National Centre for Learning Welsh on-line Iaith Gwaith courses, to boost the confidence of those individuals in working in Welsh. Following significant demand, all the places have now been filled, but applicants are very welcome to contact the Theatr Gen team to add their names to the waiting list: nia.skyrme@theatr.com
Rhian A. Davies. Executive Producer of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, said:
"As a company we’re very keen to offer support to performing arts freelancers to boost their confidence when working through the medium of Welsh. When we invited freelancers to apply for a place on the Work Welsh course, we were delighted to get such an enthusiastic response! We thought that 12 places would be enough, but demand was much higher. We have therefore decided – with the support of Arts Council of Wales – to provide places for up to 20 freelancers to boost their Welsh language skills."
Siân Tomos, Director (Arts Development) at Arts Council of Wales, said:
"The response to Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru's call is extremely encouraging. It shows the scale of the demand among freelancers for the National Centre for Learning Welsh’s courses. The Welsh language is central to our work and our priorities for the coming years, as we outlined in our recent discussion document, Re-setting the Dial.
"We hope that this will be a way to develop Welsh language skills within the arts sector and to support freelancers who have had such a difficult time recently".
The pilot scheme’s goal is to support freelance theatre workers to boost their confidence to use Welsh at work through the National Centre for Learning Welsh's course, Work Welsh, provided virtually by the Nant Gwrtheyrn Language and Heritage Centre. For further information please contact Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru.
End 5 January 2021