A community arts grant, set up in memory of an Aberystwyth woman who died after she was hit by a car while sleeping in a tent, has awarded its first grant.

The founders of the Anna Evans Community Arts Grant have announced the first grant of £3,000 has been awarded to Awaken Theatre Company for Sgriptyofest, an online festival of new writing based in Ceredigion.

Anna Sherratt, director of theatre company Cwmni Ennyn Awaken Productions said: “We are delighted to receive the first ever Anna Evans Community Arts Grant, which will help lots of young and community writers find the bravery to put their voices out there, as well as providing mentoring opportunities and some much-needed joy during this ongoing difficult time.

“We were very lucky to have worked with Anna in the past, and also hope this will be a chance for us to take inspiration from the amazing projects she did with communities of all ages. Edrych ‘mlaen!”

Anna Evans, 46, was left in a critical condition after she was struck by a car in an incident at the Rhyd y Galen campsite near Caernarfon in the early hours of Monday, 19 August 2019, and sadly died on 27 August at a hospital in Stoke.

Talented artist Anna was well-known for her work and a fundraising page was set up to create a community grant in her memory. Organisers managed to raise £10,355 for the grant, and applications were opened last year.

A spokesperson for the Anna Evans Community Grant said: “We started fundraising in memory of Anna two years ago in order to allow local artists and arts practitioners funding to continue the work Anna did with the community.

“We initially set a goal of £5,000 but were blown away when we more than doubled our target. Support poured in from local businesses and individuals showing how important, not only Anna was, but also the work she was undertaking.”

Cwmni Ennyn Awaken Productions is a bilingual theatre company founded to provide young people and community groups with opportunities to direct and stage new work.

Their aim is to share important stories and playful music, as well as to find new ways to perform classic texts. They provide those that take part with invaluable experiences in all areas of the theatre and give the support they need to see their ideas come to life.

In recent years, they have worked on many different community projects including ‘Prosiect Cartref’ – a multimedia workshop and exhibition project in collaboration with Anna Evans and Aberystwyth Arts Centre (2019-20), ‘Roll for Remission’ – a touring show developed with young cancer survivors in order to raise awareness of the issues surrounding living with cancer for young people (2016-19), and regular ‘Sgriptio’ community writing sessions (2017-2021) which led to the very first ‘Sgriptyofest Online’ - a livestreamed festival of new writing (August 2020).

A spokesperson for the grant said “funding for community arts has never been more vital”, due to the pandemic, but that grants have always been imperative for the arts.