Madam,

The letter titled 'Another community asset left to get into dilapidated state’ is strong testimony in support of the need for a fresh investment in Theatr Felinfach.

During my time at the theatre I had to commission a ‘best value’ assessment on behalf of the local authority which required an independent assessor to compare the theatre’s range and effectiveness of service with a similar centre providing a continuum of education through the medium of the arts. The closest the assessor got to finding such a centre was in Belfast – an establishment that was, in comparison to Felinfach, only just finding its feet in the complex world of inter-cultural, inter-generational, bilingual and inclusive creativity.

I refer to this report as a way of illustrating the unique relevance of Theatr Felinfach’s work. It is often referred to as a ‘community asset’, a description that belies a cultural viewpoint that is very different from that of diwylliant (the specific culture of Wales).It is, of course, an important asset to the rural communities of Ceredigion. But to perceive it as being merely a placed amenity for the benefit of those communities is a gross misunderstanding not only of the theatre itself but of the whole complex ecology of community, diwylliant and society in Wales.

As the Welsh name ‘Cymru’ reminds us, Wales is a community of communities. Being the only theatre not planted in one of these communities by the Wales Arts Council ‘to bring us culture’ but grown from the communities by the communities, its inherent focus is nothing less than the ongoing creative and collaborative imagining in their present of their future.

The relevance of Felinfach’s innovative ‘local’ work is not constrained to ‘local’ communities. Quite the opposite. Its universality is recognised throughout Wales as well as in other nations within the UK and the EU. And, yes, across the years, the community’s process of developing its own cutting-edge commedia de’l arte pantomeim (not to be confused with ‘traditional pantomime’) has been – as the ‘best value’ report made clear - of tangible socioeconomic importance. For, within the inclusive creativity of diwylliant, people produce pantos and pantos produce people.

Yours etc,

Euros Lewis, former lecturer-in-charge at Theatr Felinfach, Cribyn.

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