AWEn

As part of the festival we present Awen, four discussion sessions that delve into culture, creativity and inspiration, covering subjects such as the importance of culture to the wellbeing of a local community, the intersection between different artforms, the current state of arts and culture, and the subversion of creative conformity. 

Mwldan - The Times They Are A-Changin’

Dilwyn Davies & Hannah Firth in conversation

Friday 30 October 

5.30pm

Canfas


Bringing The Drama

Mared & Filmore! in conversation with

Nico Dafydd (llywydd / host / óstach)

Saturday 31 October 2.15-3pm

Bethania 


Folk Like… 

Lemoncello + Cerys Hafana 

in conversation with

Gethin Scourfield (llywydd / host / óstach)

Saturday 31 October 3.15-4pm 

Mwldan 2


The Culture That Moves Us 

Anna Nicoll AS + Sarah James MBE 

mewn trafodaeth â / in conversation with 

Gethin Scourfield (llywydd / host / óstach)

Saturday 31 October

Canfas

Now in his 33rd year as Chief Executive of Mwldan, Dilwyn Davies is stepping down from his role in January 2027. His successor is Hannah Firth, currently Artistic Director and Co-Director at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, who joins Mwldan in November 2026. The pair have 58 years of arts management experience between them, served at two of Wales’ most respected arts centres. In this wide ranging conversation, Hannah and Dilwyn reflect on past, present and future.

Multidisciplinary artists Mared and Filmore! (Dafe Orugbo) both have successful careers in the realms of music and also theatre, but they came to this point from opposite directions. In this talk we’ll find out how working with different artforms inspires their broader creative practice. They discuss creating character-driven art and personas, drawing on mythology, genre-bending, and where lines of discipline blur, hosted by Fflach Cymunedol’s Nico Dafydd. 

Both Cerys Hafana and Lemoncello are described as folk artists, and both have strong links to the traditional music of their homelands, but in both cases, their music can’t be easily slotted into genre categories; rich cultural influences merge and both create music from the tensions that exist there or in the creative clashes of their upbringings. Each subverts the expectations that their instruments (triple harp or cello) and gentle vocals might create, with lyrics and themes that allude to something more unsettling or raw. Both have an irreverent, DIY approach to their creative endeavours, be it Blu-tak on harp strings, making their own videos or returning to the streets to busk in an algorithm defying move. 

Culture has the power to transform and we see that nowhere more than in our dear town. 

Sarah James MBE brings the Craft Festival Wales to her home town of Cardigan each year and Gethin Scourfield is one of the founding partners of Other Voices Cardigan. They unpack how cultural capital has the power to change the course of a town’s trajectory with our local Plaid Member of the Senedd Anna Nicoll. 

SPEAKERS