We have a new writer and editor over here at We Are Cardiff! The wonderful Cat Johnston is going to be curating our good news, seeking out the goodness in our community and spreading it around like melted Nutella.
So that referendum happened, and the result came out, and a whole lot of reaction came after it. There has been so much hate and anger, from both sides, and we want to change that. Whether people voted leave or remain, whether they regret their decision now or stand by it, is irrelevant compared to that reaction. The media has not helped, with negative and sometimes spiteful and hate-inducing stories dominating our screens. In an age where news stories and peoples’ opinions are so readily available through multiple outlets, whether we want to hear them or not, that negativity can feel overwhelming.
There is so much more good going on in the world though, and right here in Cardiff. We want to claim back that good, we want to claim back nice (a massively underrated word) and we want to share it.
We don’t want to be overwhelmed by the negative: we want to highlight the uplifting, inspiring and heart-warming, and if we can inject a bit of humour in along the way then all the better! Whenever there is something bad in the world, look for the good: it’s always there. Look for the helpers, they are always there but not always seen. Look for the people who are turning the situation into something positive. Look for the love. If you can’t find it, then be that good yourself.
This blog is about us being that change, sick of all the negativity and wanting to focus on the more important things. We want to bring you wonderful, amusing, joyful stories of goodness, niceness and humanity (and sometimes animality!). In our own small way we will be fighting this negativity and hatred, through smiles and togetherness. We are together, We Are Cardiff!
For today, it seems like a good place to start our sharing of good news stories on the positive outcomes people are bringing from this referendum, irrespective of how they voted. The Cardiff for Europe event in town on Tuesday 28th June is a brilliant example of this. This was not a protest at the result: it was a positive celebration of Europe and our togetherness. The event included speakers from a variety of organisations talking about the impact of the referendum and sharing the message of hope not hate. A glance around the crowd that had gathered in The Hayes was inspiring: from the young to the older; fluent Welsh-Speakers to those who felt the need to clap along even though they didn’t understand the language; commuters who had joined on their way home from work, to people who had planned to be there; French, Polish, and no doubt many other nationalities, all listening to messages of positivity, of hope, and of cohesion. All there for a common goal: to celebrate our differences as much as our commonalities.
In true Cardiff style, the rain joined in the party with vigour, but that didn’t deter people. It was like an urban Glastonbury, minus the mud and face paint. There was even a performance from Gruff Rhys from the Super Furry Animals, but the real musical treat was a spontaneous burst of Mae hen wlad fy nhadau by the crowd at the end as people started leaving, proving the Welsh really are all beautiful singers!
The entire event was put on at the last minute by a small group of impassioned people who wanted to do something good and positive and to share that message. We are going to continue to share good news stories like this with you, but also letting you know what you can get involved in Cardiff, to create your own good news. We’ll be keeping this page updated but if you have a story you want to share, or something you’d like us to write about, then let us know.
Before we go though, here’s a lovely uplifting video to give you the serious warm and fuzzies today. Hope it makes you smile and be thankful for all the good people and animals in the world making their tiny corner of it that much brighter. This is, after all, the point of our good news initiative.
Ooooo an exciting new performance company! Bad Egg Theatre tells us about their campaign for a new pram so they can perform their hilarious material at Glastonbury!
We are Olga Kaleta, Rosy Roberts and Maddy Lennox. Together we are The Bad Egg Theatre Company, an emerging company specialising in street theatre. As a company we were brought together by a shared desire to create work focused on current issues. Using a unique blend of physical and verbal comedy, our ambition is to create highly entertaining, multi dimensional work that makes the audience think & question. We’re developing an outdoor street show that will be performed at arts festivals, community events, parades & fairs.
“The Sprats”
The Sprats are a wicked take on the limits of our responsibility and knowledge. The twin babies contemplate. They debate. They discuss political apathy and the wealth divides. They also cry a lot and poop. They want to entertain you, but they’re on the edge. Kind of like Robbie Williams, but much more naughty and a little bit less famous.
Story so far…
… we have spent two weeks devising and have showcased the project in Somerset. We’ve developed a prototype pram with support from Take Art. But our main issue is that our pram doesn’t move… This limits us in both a practical and artistic sense. Therefore we’re currently crowd funding for a new pram that will be motorized, all-terrain and easily maneuverable (in collaboration with former Scrapheap Challenge winner- Paul McGarry).
We are scheduled to premier the new version of The Sprats at Glastonbury Festival 2016!!
Why do we do it?
We really believe in this project. In addition to being highly entertaining and visually striking, it also creates a platform to speak about uneasy social and political issues. Children are the ultimate buffoons. Unconfined by social sensitivity, they can say the unspeakable and get away with it.
Here are some lovely things that people said about “The Sprats”:
“Startling and very funny- made some sharp observations too. Great script and acting. As good as any sketch I’ve seen on TV.”
“Spectacularly odious children! Grand children of Jeremy Clarkson? Clever staging and utterly brilliant!”
“Up to date comedy- appropriate for all ages…”
Fundraising
We launched our Kickstarter campaign on the 4th of April. The project will only be funded if we reach our target by the 4th of May 2016. You can support by donating here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1495800494/the-sprats?ref=discovery.
You can also help us by sharing our campaign with your communities.
If you’re creative and are based in Cardiff, it makes ALL THE SENSE to join the wonderful new Creative Cardiff network. Plus, they’re having a Christmas party on Wednesday 16 December in Chapter – go along and get involved! Here they are to tell us more about it.
Over the last year we’ve been working to build a new city-wide network that connects people working in any creative organisation, business or job. You may have been to our freelancers’ breakfast, to our event at The Abacus, or have met with one of our team to share your thoughts about what this should or could be.
And now we’ve launched Creative Cardiff – a network which provides information and promotes new opportunities as well as enabling its members to find new people to work with, build their audience and promote their work. There’s already lots going on in Cardiff and there are many creative networks but, unlike other cities such as Edinburgh, Bath and Dundee we didn’t have something here which pulls it all together in one place and encourages people to work together across all the different creative sectors. We believe that by playing this connector role Creative Cardiff can help to make our city the most creative place it can be.
Over the first year we’re offering a programme of ‘52 Things’ which we want to make with and for the city’s creative community. Online we’re profiling the people and places in the city which give it a unique identity (look out for our forthcoming city guide which we’ve worked on with ‘We Are Cardiff’ and ‘I Loves the Diff’). And we’re running events – so far we’ve held a ‘Show & Tell’ event where people shared their work, we’ve had an ‘In conversation’ event with Dick Penny from Bristol’s Watershed and later this month we’re having a Christmas party.
Come and join us at Chapter for a Christmas party for the creative community on Wednesday 16 December from 7:30-11:30pm. We’ll have music from DJs, GRLTLK, and live performances. And we’ll have a few surprises up our sleeves too! Celebrate the work you’ve done in 2015 and you might even meet some new people to collaborate with next year. Tickets are just £10 and include a glass of mulled wine and a hot buffet. Buy tickets.
Creative Cardiff is free to join. You’ll receive our fortnightly newsletter, invitations to our events and the opportunity to list yourself on our members’ directory. To find out more about the network and join for FREE visit: www.creativecardiff.org.uk Creative Cardiff is run by Cardiff University with support from BBC Wales, the City of Cardiff Council and Wales Millennium Centre.
We popped along to the Meat and Greek pop-up restaurant in the Corys building on the corner of Bute Street last night. It was super special for a couple of reasons….
The building is grade II listed, and was built in 1889 for the Corys Brothers & Co. The business included ship’s chandlery, brokerage and the sale and export of coal. Ever since I’ve lived in Cardiff, this building has been boarded up, seemingly derelict.
The ever-wonderful Meat and Greek, who are a local Greek Cypriot family, have lovingly painted and cleaned the lobby of the building, and built an absolutely gorgeous inside garden, made of wood and pallets and fairy lights. This is not your usual thrown-together pop-up. They must have spent days and days making this place look so beautiful.
The second reason it’s such a wonderful experience is the food! The menu is tastefully short – offering one starter, two platters (one meat, one veggie) and one dessert. Platters comes with decent sized portions of pork, beef, halloumi, stuffed peppers, Greek salad, potatoes, aubergines, spanakopita (a savoury pastry), hummus and tzatziki….
The service is fast, everything is reasonably priced, and the staff are incredible. It’s only open for the first three weekends in December, so don’t miss out on this extra special pop-up!
It’s that time of year when Mary Bijou Cabaret get their baubles out for everyone! Yay!
This year’s performance, the usual mix of circus, comedy, sketches, music and lots of other kinds of ridiculousness, did not let us down.
The show began with a sultry rendition of Joni Mitchell’s River, followed closely by a playful Chinese pole act from Kate McWilliam. Trailing a bouncing silver balloon behind her, she flipped around the pole with a massive smile on her face!
Co-founder of the cabaret, George Orange, who we interviewed a couple of years ago, entertained the crowd between acts, drawing attention to the cock-ups in the customary Mary Bijou way. After finishing her own, special rendition of Silent Night, ‘Maxine’ (aka Paul Evans) got stuck suspended in mid air dressed as an angel. It took a good minute or so for the crowd to realise that it wasn’t part of the plan…
Other highlights included the bizarrely hilarious Austrian ski dance to a techno version of Vogue (I can’t explain it any better that that), George’s slackline, Kitsch n Synch‘s little sandman ditty, Catriona and Ben’s furious sketch about Christmas (“IT’S ONLY JUST BEGUN, ARGHHHHH!!”
), Maxine’s powerful static trapeze routine, Olga and Hannah’s silks act, where they transformed from toy dolls into real women to a Beastie Boys soundtrack and, of course, the finale – Eric’s unbelievable straps performance.
Mary Bijou shows have a warm, social vibe where everyone ends up dancing at the end of the night and acts are so close to the audience that you can feel their breath. The performers are a motley gang of incredible talent, and you always feel as if you’ve just dropped in on a house party where someone decided to hastily arrange a talent show, in the best possible way. Their shows are edgy, socially conscious, experimental and rib-achingly funny.
Oh, also a special shout out to Ernie Sparkles’ set design, which according to him included 4 tonnes of glitter….
If only they were doing more than two shows! Guess you’ll just have to wait until next year…We made a little video for you too – see below.
Today, Hana from We Are Cardiff Press talks about what it’s like to be poor at Christmas, and what you can do to help people in your community.
At this time of year, while frenetic consumerism takes hold, we get a pang of guilt.
We see the homeless people scattered around the cold corners of the city, the charity chuggers on Queen Street, the leaflets through your door, and the emotional appeals on TV. We all know that spending £20 on bath bombs is ridiculous, but we do it anyway.
In my day job, I’m a political writer specialising in equality, human rights and poverty. I also grew up in a household that would be classed as ‘in poverty’. I want to try and illustrate why this time of year is particularly hard for people who don’t have enough money to buy food, pay rent, heat their home, and do social things that other people do like buying presents. It’s not ideal to just consider these things once a year, but it’s better than nothing.
Christmas in our house was filled with embarrassment. My mum was embarrassed that she couldn’t give us proper gifts. We were embarrassed that our Christmas decorations were very old, very rubbish donations. We stayed quiet to avoid making our mum feel bad. We were never homeless, but we got very close.
My brother and I knew that we couldn’t have Christmas lists or any kind of requests for presents. We knew that we ‘weren’t as lucky’ as other kids. Anything we received on Christmas day was greeted with a childish joy alongside an uncomfortable understanding – how was it paid for? What would we do without next month? We got into even further debt in winter, and relied on the help of family friends to eat warm dinners and to replace worn-out school clothes.
Going back to school in January was something to absolutely dread. New clothes, bikes, and holidays in particular, were all things we couldn’t compete with. I usually feigned an illness straight after the Christmas break to avoid having to go through the comparison game.
Our family was on a knife edge throughout December, emotionally and financially; the end of Christmas was a relief.
This isn’t an unusual or extreme example.
Nearly a quarter of people in Wales (23%) live in poverty.One third of children in Wales live in poverty. It’s particularly high for lone parents (most are women), disabled people and ethnic minorities.
‘Not having enough money to get by’ is something that becomes much more pronounced at Christmas.
Below I’ve given a crude, and likely not comprehensive round-up of the charity campaigns that I’ve spotted that are running this Christmas in Cardiff for people who are in that 23%. If you know of any more, leave a comment.
The number of people declared homeless because they arefleeing domestic abuse has risen in recent years. We recently promoted Project Shoebox, but donations END ON SUNDAY 6th DECEMBER. If you want to give more help to women in refuges, check out Welsh Women’s Aid and Refuge’s Christmas present appeal.
The Huggard Centre is a Cardiff-based charity tackling homelessness. Services focus around the day centre that open 365 days of the year, a 20 bed hostel with additional emergency spaces, 14 shared houses with tenant support that accommodate 52 clients. In extreme weather conditions they also open the day centre at night, to provide shelter for people who would otherwise be forced to sleep rough. You can help them by donating money, clothes or your time by volunteering in their kitchen.
Oasis Cardiff is a centre for asylum seekers and refugees. They offer classes, employability workshops, dance classes, a women’s only area, mother and toddler groups and support with letters and phone calls regarding asylum and refugee issues. You can help them out by donating clothes – they post requests on their Twitter feed.
TheBevan Foundation is an important political voice for people in poverty in Wales. They influence politicians and decision makers by producing excellent research and policy proposals. You can become a member of the Foundation for £36 a year.
Llamau provide safe places for hundreds of vulnerable young people, women and children in Wales. They need donations of gifts or items to make up a gift for the hundreds of people they will support this Christmas, who without help would not receive anything. Why not make the most of 3 for 2 offers and donate your free item? If you shop online, sign up for Giveasyoulive and choose to support Llamau. Every time you shop online, the retailer will make a donation to us, at no extra cost to you. If you’re shopping online anyway, sign up and help unlock donations towards the cause.
The Wallich give vulnerable people the accommodation and support to live safer, happier, more independent lives and to become part of their communities. There has been a 64% increase in rough sleeping in Cardiff over the past two years- the charity’s winter appeal asks you to help bring people in from the cold.
The Salvation Army is running a Christmas present appeal, asking people to donate new unwrapped toys and gifts for children, families, older people and homeless people in need this Christmas.
Cardiff South Debt Centre is run in partnership with The Bay Church and gives free debt help to anyone who feels weighed down by debt. You can find out more about how CAP can help here.
Shelter Cymru helps thousands of people every year who are struggling with bad housing or homelessness, and they campaign to prevent it in the first place. They are an effective campaigning voice for homeless people in Wales. You can make a one-off donation to them to help fund their work.
Safer Wales is an independent charity based in Cardiff. They work to help people feel safer and improve the life of our communities in Wales. They offer support and services to people who are suffering domestic abuse; hate crime or harassment; or who are being forced to do things that they do not wish to do. They also work with young people in the Riverside Warehouse youth centre and in schools across Wales. You can volunteer for them or donate money.
Barnardo’s Cymru run incredibly important service for children in Wales, around fostering and adoption, young carers, sexual exploitation, child poverty and domestic violence. You can help them in loads of ways.
If you’re worried about money this Christmas, Step Change provide debt advice to people in Cardiff who are struggling with money.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have produced this great video about how the public define poverty:
Gilberto Torres, the trade unionist who was kidnapped and tortured after he challenged oil companies is coming to Wales to tell his story TONIGHT at 6.30pm at the Temple of Peace, where there’ll be an evening of Colombian food, music and performances. Tickets are STILL AVAILABLE.
Gilberto is bringing a case with Deighton Pierce Glynn Solicitors against British Petroleum for his ordeal where he was taken, held for 42 days in insect infested pits, tortured and made to watch fellow captives being dismembered. He now lives in exile but wants to share his experience. He states:
“I want to discuss what action British people can take to stop the damage that multinationals are causing to human rights and the environment around the globe”.
Gilberto’s case is almost unheard of as he escaped with his life, something he puts down to the solidarity and support he received from people all over the world who called for his safe release. His case is just one of thousands of similar cases in Colombia and his region over 12,000 people have been murdered or disappeared since BP started oil exploration. He sees international solidarity from British Trade unionists and other groups as a crucial part of their struggle.
There has also been huge environmental destruction in his region due to the oil exploration people unable now to farm the land and experiencing grave drought and huge losses of livestock.
This is part of a UK wide tour being put on by Oil Justice which is a collaboration of War on Want, Colombian NGO COSPACC, and Deighton Pierce Glyn Solicitors. His solicitor Sue Willman said:
“Gilberto Torres is risking his safety by suing oil companies in UK and by coming here to seek the truth. He and his community face huge barriers in accessing justice. We hope his courage and the Oiljustice initiative will be a small step in breaking down those barriers, and changing the behaviour of corporations.”
Tom Lebert of War on Want said:
“Big oil companies are devastating communities across the world. Their operations have forced people from their land, polluted the environment, and led to widespread human rights violations. It’s time these companies were held to account..”
The event is being held by the Welsh Centre for International Affairs and is part of their series on celebrating human rights and is free to attend.
If you need to refresh your wardrobe, fill your bookshelves with new material or just fancy getting yourself some new furniture, you can do it all for free at Exchange In Roath (EiR)– Green City Events’s giant swap shop!
Last year’s Exchange In Roath saw over 1.5 tonnes of clothes, books, DVDs, CDs and records, furniture, electronics, toys, kitchenware and even bikes donated. This year Green City are bringing the event back to Cardiff as part of the Made In Roath festival.
“We were really surprised at the quality (and quantity) of the items donated – in the mix last year were some lovely designer clothes and beautiful vintage items! One of the best parts was hearing so many people say ‘ohhhh I was just about to go out and buy one of those so you’ve saved me loads of money!’” – Becca Clark, founder of Green City Events
As a completely free event attendees will be given five free ‘points’ (which can be exchange for items) just for turning up. If you want to walk away with more, however, you can gain more points by donating your own unwanted things.
From Monday 12thto Friday 16th October there will be a yarn-bombed shipping container on Keppoch Street, right next to the Gate Arts Centre, ready and willing to take donations. Look how cool it is:
That is a well and truly yarn-bombed shipping container!
On the day itself screen-printing arts collective Printhaus and skill-sharers Trade School Cardiff will be on hand to run up-cycling stations and offer workshops centred on creatively repairing unwanted objects. So, as well as swapping items, people can learn how to give their old items a new lease of life.
The Trade School Cardiff classes are limited capacity so you need to book these in advance – and you’ll need to bring something to exchange with the teacher (in exchange for learning, that’s the ‘Trade’ part). More on the TSC website.
You’ll be able to screenprint the winning designs from the Swap It! design competition (below) onto your old tshirts and tote bags!
Alyn’s designLauren’s designRosie’s design
You can drop off donations THIS WEEK!
Drop-off Donations: Monday 12th-Friday 16th October, 5pm-7pm Exchange In Roath: Saturday 17th October, 12noon-4pm
Location: The Gate Arts Centre, Keppoch St, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 3JW
More about Exchange in Roath….
How many people attend Exchange In Roath?
Last year between 800-1000 people attended Exchange In Roath and, within four hours, 1.3 tonnes of donations had been rehomed.
“A real mixture of people attend this event but it’s very important to us that’s it’s accessible to all. One of my strongest memories from last year was of a family that came in. We gave all the kids five free points each and when they came out they had huge grins on their faces and arms full of toys! They were clearly not a wealthy family and this had made their day, maybe even their year. We told them to come back at the end as we make it take-what-you-want for the last hour. They came back and picked up lots of things they really needed like kids clothes and kitchenware.” – Becca Clark, Green City Events
What is the atmosphere like at Exchange In Roath? “I really love this event, the atmosphere was exciting and there was anticipation building up in the form of a large queue outside the Gate before we opened the doors!” – Becca Clark, Green City Events
How does the point system work?
“The exchange system is a very simple one. Our drop off container is run by volunteers and as a rough guide one bin bag or box full of stuff is worth between 5-10 points. We will not be able to go through the boxes to judge the value of items – we are judging all donations as equal with the assumption that these are things that people would like to get rid of.
On the day everything is worth just one point – this could mean one point for a coffee table or one point for a DVD. Everything is of equal value in the swap shop and it will be on a first come first served basis. There will be the option, however, for people to make a cash donation to the YMCA if they feel they would like to.
Everyone that walks through the door will be given 5 free points, whether they have donated or not. Those that have donated of course will have lots more points to spend.” – Becca Clark, Green City Events What up-cycled events are taking place? “This adds extra fun to the day and encourages people to re-use and re-love their items before throwing them away! We will have upcycling stations which will be running simple workshops to quickly revamp clothes and items you might throw away. Printhaus will be joining us to screen print designs on to your old clothes or tote bags and we have joined forces with Trade School Cardiff to offer skill share workshops in our shipping container.” – Becca Clark, Green City Events
What happens to the items that don’t get new owners? “We work in partnership with the YMCA and anything left over goes to their warehouse to be sorted for their charity shop or donated to their residents.” – Becca Clark, Green City Events
You can read a preview chapter from the book online here.
Hana
On Friday, I did an interview for a WalesOnline story about the launch of the We Are Cardiff Press and our debut book.
The reporter asked me why I decided to set up the Press, and I began to describe the hundred reasons why I wanted to get into a dying industry.
Here are the five top:
1. I love books
Words have been my closest friend since I was about six years old. I used to get told off for reading in the bath and making the pages go all crinkly, and staying up until 3am reading Point Horror when I had school the next day.
I tasted razor-sharp suspense reading Rebecca for the first time, and fell in love with Edmund Dantès on a 26-hour south American bus journey.
I’ve been on adventures with Graham Greene, Paul Theroux and Alex Garland.
I’ve weed myself laughing at White Teeth and Alexei Sayle. I discovered injustice reading 1984 and The Killing Fields.
I recoiled at Ian McEwan’s The Innocent, and read Roald Dahl’s short stories over and over and over.
My bookshelves strain under the weight of unexpected buys, swaps, gifts and mysterious acquirements.
My bookshelves are rainbow colour coded… too far?
I can’t imagine a day when I won’t buy books. My house would be empty, for a start, but I’d have no presents to give people, no more afternoons wandering the damp depths of Troutmark and nothing to accompany me on long journeys.
Many of my friends feel the same, and even though book sales have been plummeting for years, I think there is still a place for beautiful, physical books in our lives.
2. I wanted to contribute to a new kind of publishing
I received an offer for a publishing deal for our debut book, The 42b, in 2013. It was yet to be written, the illustrations were undrawn, and we didn’t know whether it would be any good.
The publisher told me that they could ‘turn around’ a 30,000 word book in three days – that meant editing, formatting and designing a cover. The unit price of the printing was suspiciously low, and the contributors would receive a tiny royalty for each copy sold.
It was tempting: easy, fast, on to the next project. But the publisher handed me a copy of a book they had recently launched… and they had spelled the author’s name differently on the cover and the spine. ‘Mistakes happen, it’ll be corrected in the second edition’, they told me.
The cover looked like it had been made on Microsoft Publisher, using Clipart from 1998.
It repulsed me. I hate seeing books with bad design or terrible marketing – the Lousy Book Covers website is almost too much for me – the grammar, the designs, the audacity…
The eleven people who had agreed to write and draw for the book are passionate about writing and art. They spend their free time writing stories, giving feedback to other writers, re-writing their work, attending creative writing classes, and submitting their work to journals and publishers and websites. They know that there’s no big money in writing, but they do it because they love it.
I wanted a publisher that cares about the work as much as we do. Someone that aches over a perfect cover design, proof-reads it a million times, and promotes it with all the intensity with which it was created.
And so I thought, ‘I can do this better’.
The Duracell bunny that is Helia Phoenix set up We Are Cardiff five years ago, with the intention of telling a different story of Cardiff to the one written in the tabloids at the time. She saw all the creative and cultural vibrancy of this city and created an outlet to champion it.
I came home from that meeting with the publisher and told her that I wanted to set up a small press to publish Cardiff’s best writers, artists and photographers, and I wanted to call it the We Are Cardiff Press. She said (as she always does) – ‘YES!! GO FOR IT!!!!!’ (with a hundred more exclamation marks). She also wrote eight blog posts while we had that conversation (or thereabouts).
After throwing the idea around with some incredibly talented and wonderful friends, and after getting inspiration from small presses such as Tiny Hardcore Books, the We Are Cardiff Press was born…
I decided that it would be completely non-profit – all the contributors work for free.
Any profit from the books will go into the Press to fund the next project, and to run writing workshops to help new people contribute to our future books.
We decided that we would only print what people wanted to read. If people didn’t want to buy the books, we wouldn’t print them: that’s why we are running a pre-order campaign to judge the level of interest in the book, and then print the right number of books.
I made a conscious decision to not apply for funding from the Arts Council or Literature Wales. This project takes up a lot of my spare time, and if I had to fit in writing applications and funding evaluations, I wouldn’t have time to write, edit, or promote our books. It also means that we’re free to do whatever we want with our books – we are not confined by funding restrictions.
3. Writers deserve to have their work showcased and nurtured
Typically, writers aren’t good at self-promotion; they need encouragement and exposure and confidence. Large publishers reject work without telling people what’s wrong with it, so it’s impossible for work to improve without feedback.
Creative writing classes such as Briony Goffin’s are brilliant spaces, where writers feel safe to read their work out loud without the fear of ridicule. The work written in these classes deserves to have a wider audience, if the writers want it.
People write for different reasons: some genuinely aren’t interested in publishing, they do it for themselves. Some want to make a career, and some want to create a legacy that will live in libraries and bookshelves for years to come.
There’s an opportunity for small presses to take risks on alternative, challenging literature that the larger publishers don’t consider marketable. We know that some work will have a niche market, but does that mean that it should only exist online?
Online publishing is fantastic, but it can be short-lived.
When we click ‘publish’ on We Are Cardiff, we instantly reach over 35,000 people for the moment that the piece flashes in their inbox, on their Twitter feed or Facebook timeline. But it risks being missed or forgotten.
By publishing the very best work we discover in printed form, the slow-burn of old fashioned books spreads slower, but lasts longer.
We may only sell a few hundred copies of our book, but a copy of it will sit in the British Library, the National Library of Wales, and Scotland and the Bodleian in Oxford. And, after only two weeks and minimal marketing, we’ve already received orders for The 42b from unexpected places – France, the USA and Scotland!
The acclaimed literary critic and writer Peter Finch recently told us that he is ‘so impressed with the way [we] are going about publishing and selling The 42b’. He said that it is ‘the best approach’ that he’s seen ‘in an age’. And he speaks as a former publisher, bookseller and a present day writer!
The best advice I’ve read on starting a small press is:
4. The We Are Cardiff community is capable of amazing things
As soon as I put a Batsignal out that We Are Cardiff wanted writers and illustrators for a new book, I received about 20 pitches for stories in a month.
While setting up the Press, I’ve realised the incredible strength of the We Are Cardiff brand and team. People and organisations want to support and grow the creative community in Cardiff, and it’s exciting.
Dan at Porter’s, where we are holding our launch party on 5 November (more info on Porter’s next week) has bent over backwards to help us arrange our event;
Abbey Bookbinding is an amazing Cardiff-based, family-run printer; Darren has spent hours perfecting the print of our detailed cover design, and providing brilliant creative advice; and
I also got excellent guidance on the Press’s legal structure and finances from Branwen at the Wales Co-op Centre.
We found performers and musicians to play at the launch within days, and people have volunteered to proofread the book and give advice on stuff like distribution and ISBN numbers. Just look how gorgeous the book is:
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Due to Helia’s incredible marketing skills, James’s design and video ideas, Alice’s events management expertise and Lisa’s proofreading, the book and the Press has come together in people’s spare time.
I also have to give a shout out to our developer Matt Harris, who made our gorgeous online preview chapter. He’s the only person who doesn’t live in Cardiff, but we figured Bristol is like an honorary Cardiff 😉
5. Our ideas are endless
As soon as we launch our first book, we’ll begin taking submissions for the next one. I have at least a million ideas, but here are a few:
a book of portrait photography and personal stories of refugees and asylum seekers in Cardiff – how they got here, what they brought with them, and how they’ve made Cardif their home;
a book of recipes from chefs in the city. There has been an explosion in pop-up food in Cardiff, from Hangfire to Lia’s Kitchen, and it would be fantastic to bring together the best dishes that this city has to offer; and
a collection of street photography, paired with poetry or a piece of writing.
They are inviting budding artists, designers (and everyone else!) to enter a design. The 3 winning entries will be available to screen print onto second hand t-shirts and tote bags at Exchange in Roath at The Gate on Saturday 17th October.
The theme for the design is SWAP IT /SHARE IT. It can feature the words ‘Swap it/share it‘ or ‘Exchange in Roath 2015‘ but neither are a requirement – just get creative with the theme!
Your design must be no larger than A3 and in one colour. Deadline for entries Thursday 8th October.
All entries to be emailed to swapit@greencityevents.co.uk as a high res jpeg or pdf.
Green City is working with the wonderful Printhaus who will be running live screen printing workshop on the day.
Check out this awesome video of last year’s event:
Well, this is so blimmin’ exciting that we’re tempted to write this whole post in CAPITAL LETTERS, but we’ll refrain for the sake of your eyes!
Our long-awaited new venture, the We Are Cardiff Press, is officially launching on Thursday 5 November 2015 , AND AND AND we are taking pre-orders for our very first book, The 42b, which is an anthology of short stories and illustrations based around a fictional Cardiff bus route.
You can be one of the first people to order the book by heading over to our Indiegogo page – the first 125 people to order will get their name printed in the back cover of the book! Other rewards include limited edition prints, and a place on a We Are Cardiff writing workshop.
Our launch party on 5th November is going to be part of Sŵn Festival, and will feature some dramatic readings from the book as well as a couple of spangly new Cardiff bands. The 42b Launch party Facebook event is here – make sure you come along for a drink and a dance!
Our debut book
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‘The 42b’ is an anthology of short stories and illustrations based around a fictional Cardiff bus route.
Each story follows a different character as they get on and off the number 42b bus. It’s a series of warped kaleidoscopic reflections of the Cardiff that we live in today.
From wrestlers to adulterers, pensioners to murderers, the passengers on the 42b exist in a city of different realities, where everyday life brings the threat of grisly mutation, and citizens are bound by their occupations.
Although self-contained, the plots weave in and out of each other to form one whole piece of fiction: a journey through life, death, epiphanic moments, shopping bags full of intestines, and all the extras that can come with a bus pass.
Eleven writers and illustrators created the book, which is the first publication for We Are Cardiff Press. All books are beautifully designed and made with high quality materials to ensure that each copy is a piece of art that you’ll want to keep forever. There will also be limited edition prints of the illustrations available.
The Press
We Are Cardiff Press is a small, non-profit collective, publishing literature and art from creators in the city. We’ll be crafting collectable, limited edition runs of beautiful books, from literature to photography, and illustration to personal storytelling.
Each book will be a special, high quality piece that you’ll want to keep and read over and again. We’ll be working with the city’s best writers, photographers and illustrators to tell you the stories that make up Cardiff. These gorgeous publications will be sold online and in local outlets.
Founder of the Press and editor of the book, Hana Johnson, explains her reason for setting up the Press:
“I wanted to create the Press to showcase the city’s incredible creative energy by publishing work as a legacy to the writing and artistic talent of Cardiff.
“There’s a lot of creative talent here – writers, illustrators, photographers, and I want to harness that and make collectible books about Cardiff. It’s an exciting, vibrant place to live, with a long history and diverse population, and we’re looking forward to creating more books to celebrate that.”
We Are Cardiff Press is a non-profit small press, and all profits from sales will be put back into the organisation to fund new books, and run creative writing workshops.
The #bingate controversy raged on this week with the council beginning its new waste collection regime. Here, a Canton resident sets out why we should be worried about how decisions are made in our area – bins are just the beginning….
Residents across the city lined up their wheelie bins this week as the council’s new waste management strategy lurched into action. Apart from a few dissenters, most played by the new rules, but you’d have to be living in your bin to have missed the controversy surrounding #bingate.
I’ll come out right now as an anti-binner. In my street we don’t have too much of an issue with litter, and recycling levels are high. Our main concern is that we don’t really have anywhere to store our brand new wheelie bins. Contrary to what some media commentators (and apparently some of our own elected councillors) seem to think, we know this is a first world problem. And for those shouting NIMBY: having respect and concern for your own home isn’t unreasonable, as long as a healthy sense of perspective is maintained.
Of much higher importance than my front doorstep are the other responsibilities our elected officials have for this city. These are the people in charge of our schools; the welfare services my elderly neighbours rely on; our parks, leisure centres and libraries, not to mention our transport infrastructure and the job of presenting Cardiff to the world.
Many bin-gate residents are more concerned that the council has demonstrated a lack of consultation, transparency and communication over these changes and that this shouldn’t go unchecked, because their next decision might be about something genuinely life-changing. We’re more annoyed at the process than the outcome. We can live with bins, but we’re still not sure why we have to.
I found two published surveys on waste management, here and here, which report the high level of commitment to increasing recycling across Cardiff. How have these same residents reacted with such vitriol to the new recycling scheme?
Well, for one the new bins cost almost £2m. Trust us, say the council – we must spend now to avoid huge fines in future. But how many houses with little or no garden waste received a 240-litre bin last week, entirely surplus to requirement? How many of these are being returned, requiring special collection services at further cost? Some areas have been given bins where bags were working fine. Some who desperately want bins are still on bags. Who made these decisions and how? These are reasonable questions to ask given the council’s public commitment to transparency. A one-size fits all approach has been imposed on the city with little concern for local circumstances.
For those mocking the concerned residents of Canton: surely engagement in the democratic process is a good thing? It’s easy to play top trumps with worthy causes. Worried about wheelie bins; what about education? Concerned about austerity measures; there are people in the world dying from lack of fresh water. This undermines the role of the citizen in our democracy. If bin-gate is the issue that kick-starts more public engagement in how our city is run, then some good can come of the saga.
Did you know that there is a public survey live on Ask Cardiff right now? Closing date is 7th September. Officials did attempt to consult through surveys, events, social media and articles in the County Times. Despite this effort most residents didn’t feel consulted until well after the decision was made. Surely a communications rethink is needed?
In the spirit of community, how can Cardiff get past bin-gate? It’s clear that we need to think radically about recycling and waste management, and it’s also clear that the council isn’t providing innovative leadership. I’m horrified by some of the pictures I’ve seen on twitter – communities continually harassed by tidal waves of litter due to seagulls, fly tipping or common lack of courtesy from litter-louts. That’s not something any resident should have to put up with, but judging from today’s pictures, wheelie bins aren’t going to be the magic solution.
So what can communities do to tackle the problems caused by waste, and what support do we need from our elected officials?
So that referendum happened, and the result came out, and a whole lot of reaction came after it. There has been so much hate and anger, from both sides, and we want to change that. Whether people voted leave or remain, whether they regret their decision now or stand by it, is irrelevant compared to that reaction. The media has not helped, with negative and sometimes spiteful and hate-inducing stories dominating our screens. In an age where news stories and peoples’ opinions are so readily available through multiple outlets, whether we want to hear them or not, that negativity can feel overwhelming.
ent Welsh-Speakers to those who felt the need to clap along even though they didn’t understand the language; commuters who had joined on their way home from work, to people who had planned to be there; French, Polish, and no doubt many other nationalities, all listening to messages of positivity, of hope, and of cohesion. All there for a common goal: to celebrate our differences as much as our commonalities.
We Are Cardiff 