We have been working in partnership with Mental Health Matters for many years, offering a range of creative opportunities to local people that use their services. Mental Health Matters works with people who have a mental health related issue, other voluntary organisations and statutory services to promote mental well-being and to ensure there is a comprehensive range of mental health services in Wales. This gallery was created in a photography workshop at a Mental Health Matters Wellbeing Drop In Centre in the Bridgend area, facilitated by our Photography Worker Alison McGann in 2011.

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Yami’s third visit to Cardiff and Bridgend was as inspirational as always! We hosted workshops throughout Bridgend and Cardiff in October 2011, spreading the funk bug to all who participated. We chose to open up the age categories this time round, allowing younger dancers to take part. Having such a range of ages and abilities enabled a friendly, carefree atmosphere.

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Over the last few years our Visual Arts Workers Tim Smith and Alison McGann have been working in Porthcawl Pavilion, facilitating a popular Art Club, with one workshop for children and another workshop for adults. In this project participants created paintings, pottery, mosaics, montages and outdoor art sculptures at the beach. We had great feedback and hope to run another project like this in the future. This workshops was funded by The Pavilion, Bridgend County Borough Council and The Arts Council of Wales.

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In Spring 2011 we worked on a new film and drama project with 7Corners Centre in Abergavenny. The 7Corners Centre provides a place where young people can meet in safety, find help for personal development and receive support if in crisis. This project is an exciting new venture with many people involved, leading to an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed by the young people from the area. Our media group made a film diary of the project and will be filming the performance on the night also; they are young Millennium Volunteers and are supported by The Millennium Volunteers Fund. This evening extravaganza took place on the evening of June 21st (on Summer Solstice, the longest day and the shortest night of the year) at Abergavenny castle ruins.

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In Ethiopia the Meskel Ceremony (The Founding of the True Cross) is one of the most colourfully celebrated occasions for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, but nowhere more so than in the Guraghe region of Ethiopia. In September 2010, with the support of Wales Arts International, Tracy and Amy from our Film Department were invited to work with Adanech Admassu (one of the Gem TV Directors, part of the Gemini Trust, our partner project in Ethiopia) to make a short film documenting her personal journey to celebrate and learn about her Guraghe culture and how it has impacted on her life. This was the first time that Adanech had had the opportunity to celebrate Meskel in the Guraghe region. Their documentary explores the tradition. Here are some photos from the project.

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Valley and Vale Community Arts hosted a family weekend filled with outdoor creativity and local folklore at Ecodysgu, Tondu, Bridgend. The families had great fun making fires, creating puppets, building dens, organising a battle, celebrating a wedding and diving into a cauldron! Lynette Margerison, Forest Arts Worker with Valley and Vale, says “something really magic happens when the whole family get to play together in the woods. It really is an incredible experience- whatever the weather!”

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Here are some photos from our new dance workshop at Ysgol Bryn Castell in the Bridgend Borough, working with students with learning and behavioural difficulties.

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Singing the Valleys is our new music-and-memories project in the Ogmore and Garw Valleys, which has been funded by Bridgend County Borough Council. This is part two of our photographic record of this unique project.

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Ali Moloney, Tracy Pallant and Amy Peckham have been working on a drama and film project with young people in the Bridgend area exploring issues about relationships and teen dating abuse. The aim of this project is to create a resource for use with young people, to promote awareness of the issues and stimulate discussion. The film is currently in post-production and we will be launching it soon, so watch this space. This project has been funded by Cymorth and the Arts Council of Wales.

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To celebrate International Women’s Day 2011 and to thank all the inspirational women (both young and older) that we have been lucky to work with over the years, here's just some of the women we've had the pleasure of working with this year.

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Yami delivered a Popping workshop for adults at Rubicon Dance Studios in Cardiff, and we had a total of seventeen people taking part. The funk-styler enriched everyone's knowledge of Popping, feeding us with detailed history and foundations of the Funk Style; the dancers were hanging onto every word and movement that Yami delivered, creating an encouraging and buzzing atmosphere! Funk styles derived from social dances and therefore dancing as a group and in partners is the key element of the dance. Ending the workshop with a soul train put the cherry on the icing....everyone let their hair down and quite simply grooved their way down the room!

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Singing the Valleys is our new music-and-memories project in the Ogmore and Garw Valleys, which has been funded by Bridgend County Borough Council. It is an informal project; we aim to enjoy some music and singing with the residents of Dan y Mynydd Sheltered Housing in the Garw Valley and Cwrt Gwalia Sheltered Housing in the Ogmore Valley, to spark off and record some memories in the process and to compose some songs and music of our own.

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