Wales

Celebrating Welsh culture at the Eisteddfod – Wales’ biggest arts festival

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is a sprawling annual celebration of Welsh culture with a history dating back to 1176. Taking place over eight days in the first week of August, the event changes location every year and is entirely in Welsh, with a dedicated ‘Learners Village’ to provide learners with bilingual information, workshops and simultaneous-translation for many events. While the focus of the Eisteddfod has traditionally been its competitions –from folk dancing to choral singing and poetry – it has also evolved in the past 50 years into a festival that offers artistic performances of all kinds including drag, street dance and rap music, and attracts 600,000 visitors a year.

Saran Morgan, a bilingual actor who works across TV, radio, film and theatre in Welsh and in English, is a regular attendee and has performed there too. “It’s a really brilliant festival,” she says. “Most performers in Wales that have been raised in the Welsh language – going to Welsh schools or from Welsh-speaking homes – have competed in the Eisteddfod in some way along their lives. I know a lot of people who have gone on to be professionals whose first experiences of performing in front of hundreds of people was at the Eisteddfod.”

An Equity member since she was 17, Saran spoke last year at a panel event at the Eisteddfod on the benefits of union membership. “Young people who are reciting or singing in competitions might be going into the industry themselves in the future, and we wanted to let them know that joining a union is a great way to navigate the industry. It’s a way to be part of a community as a performer because you know that someone’s always got your back.”

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is taking place on 5 – 12 August this year at Llyn and Eifionydd, Boduan, Gwynedd, with Equity in attendance. If you would like to meet up with us, email cymru@equity.org.uk.