Cafodd PEILOT – Rhaglen Ymchwil a Datblygu wedi’i Mentora, dan nawdd Addo, i artistiaid sydd â’u cartref yng Nghymru i roi lle iddyn nhw ddatblygu eu harfer yn y maes cyhoeddus – ei chyllido gan Gyllid Adfer Diwylliannol Cymru gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru.  Roedd ar fynd o fis Ionawr tan fis Mawrth 2021 yn cynnig i bedwar o artistiaid sydd â’u cartref yng Nghymru gyfleoedd tâl i ymateb i achosion taer ein dydd, gyda chefnogaeth fentora gan Gyd-gyfarwyddwyr Addo.

Roedd hi’n bwysig i ni yn Addo ddefnyddio ein safle, yn gorff, i gefnogi artistiaid llawrydd drwy’r pandemig, yn enwedig gan fod galw mwyfwy arnyn nhw i helpu i gefnogi iechyd a lles cymunedau.  Cafodd pob artist chwe sesiwn fentora un i un gydag Addo, yn gymysg â sesiynau cymar i gymar a sesiynau gydag arbenigwyr perthnasol eraill.  Roedd y rhaglen yn pwysleisio pwysigrwydd Ymchwil a Datblygu penagored oddi mewn i’r broses greadigol a doedd dim disgwyl i’r artistiaid gynhyrchu na chanlyniad na chelfwaith terfynol.

Roedd y rhaglen â’i bryd ar fynd i’r afael â chwestiynau ynghylch sut y mae’r maes cyhoeddus yn bodoli a sut y gall celfyddyd, artistiaid, cymunedau a chyrff fel Addo ymateb iddo yn y dyddiau digynsail hyn.  Mae’r cwestiynau hyn yn bwysicach fyth o gofio’r pryderon cymdeithasol-wleidyddol taer ar hyn o bryd ynghlwm â’r argyfwng newid hinsawdd, Brexit, effaith barhaol mesurau llymder y llywodraeth bresennol mewn ymateb i’r argyfwng ariannol byd-eang, a phryderon cydraddoldeb ac amrywiaeth a godir gan fudiadau megis #MeToo, Mae Bywydau Du o Bwys, a’r Mudiadau LGBTIQ+ a Hawliau Anabledd.  Mae llawer o’r achosion hyn yn waeth fyth neu’n amlycach eu lle oherwydd effaith Covid-19.

Y pedwar artist a ddetholwyd i gymryd rhan yn y rhaglen yn dilyn galwad agored a phroses ddethol oedd: Cheryl Beer, Rowan O’Neill, Jason & Becky a Mandy Lane.

Arbrofodd Cheryl Beer ag addasu technoleg cymorth clyw at ddibenion gwahanol, gydag amgáu amledd sbectrol mewn gwydr i archifio’r llanwau sy’n erydu’r glannau, a dyfeisiodd broses a roes le iddi, a hithau’n artist a chanddi nam ar y clyw, nodiannu bio-rhythmau’r môr i ddod yn gyfansoddwr ‘cludo’ i fyd natur a thrwy hynny ei wneud yn fwy hygyrch i eraill.  Mae Cheryl yn dogfennu’r broses yma ac mae’r canlyniadau ar ei gwefan yma.  Yn sôn am ei rhan yn y rhaglen, meddai Cheryl:

Pan oedd angen ei iacháu ar y byd, troesom at y creadigolion i ganu, i ddawnsio, i luniadu, i beintio, i wneud, i chwarae, i wylio, i wrando.  Ond mae angen eu hiacháu ar y creadigolion hefyd.   Mae eu llestr yn llawn brag bywyd ond does dim modd arllwys ohono’n ddi-ben-draw cyn bod angen ei ail-lenwi.  Os oes arnom angen creadigolion i’n helpu i wella, mae gofyn i ni ofalu amdanynt.  Dyna pam rwyf mor ddiolchgar am fy mentoriaeth Ymchwil a Datblygu gydag Addo Creadigol a gyllidwyd gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru.  Peilot oedd hwn a gobeithio y bydd ein hymateb yn agor rhagor o gyfleoedd i artistiaid eraill gael yr un lle i feithrin eu harfer a’i roi ar waith mewn ffyrdd newydd.

Cynhyrchodd Rowan O’Neill wefan a chyfres o bostiadau blog yn ddrych o gydasio ôl-dremiol ei sgrifennu a’i harfer perfformio gan ailganoli ei hegnïon yn arfer personol sy’n gallu cydweithio’n fwy hyderus ag agendâu asiantaethau eraill.   Roedd ei chyflwyniad terfynol yn traethu ei syniadau ymchwil, sef opera ‘werin’ wedi’i seilio ar waith y nofelydd o oes Victoria Allen Raine a’i nofel am y diwygiad yng Nghymru, Queen of the Rushes, wedi’i gosod mewn gwedd ffuglennol ar Tresaith a’i chyffiniau.  Gewch chi wybod rhagor am y syniadau hyn yma a darllen blog Rowan yma, y dywedodd amdano,

Diwedd y lôn a dechrau un eto. Fy mhostiad blog olaf a sgrifennwyd mewn ymateb i’r raglen ymchwil a datblygu wedi’i mentora, dan nawdd Addo …  Diolch i Addo a Sarah Pace am y cyfle ac i’m cydartistiaid ar y cynllun …   Rwyf ar fin cyrraedd camau olaf fy mhrosiect gyda Span Arts a PLANED, Cân Y Ffordd Euraidd / The Song of the Golden Road a chlywaf fy ngeiriau yn y ffilm yn atseinio drwy themâu a phrosesau gweithio’r prosiect presennol.  Roedd pen y daith fentora yn llythrennol yn gam cyntaf ar ffordd arall – y ‘ffordd euraidd’ chwedl hwythau, ar draws Preseli.

Chwiliodd Jason & Becky sut i ddatblygu ymgysylltu â’r cyhoedd yn deg a herio trefnau hierarchaidd sy’n cyflwyno llinell derfyn glir rithiol rhwng gwerth adloniant pur ‘isel ddiwylliant’ a rhinweddau addysgol ‘uchel ddiwylliant’.  Gewch chi wybod rhagor yma ar eu gwefan.  Yn sôn am y rhaglen, meddai Jason & Becky:

Roedd y sesiynau’n anhygoel o ddefnyddiol ac maen nhw wedi ailfframio ein safbwynt o ran y modd i ymgymryd â phrosiectau mwy yn y maes cyhoeddus, gan ddangos i ni werth mentora mewn datblygiad arfer proffesiynol.  Chwe mis ar ôl rhaglen fentora Addo rydym yn dechrau hel at ei gilydd a throsi rhai o’r sgyrsiau diddorol a hergar fu gydag Addo yn ogystal â’u rhwydwaith o ffrindiau beirniadol. Bu’r siawns ar feirniadaeth a myfyrio gydag amrywiaeth mor eang o ymarferwyr a phobl broffesiynol yn amhrisiadwy, a chan bob un ohonyn nhw ei safbwynt ei hun o ran sut y gellid dehongli’r gwaith a’i ddatblygu – gydag ysgogi ailfframio ein hystyriaethau a’n tueddiadau ninnau.  Byddai cyfle o’r fath yn fantais aruthrol i artistiaid eraill sy’n dechrau meddwl am gynhyrchu gwaith i’r maes cyhoeddus, a byddem yn eu cymell i dderbyn y cynnig os daw i’w rhan ddydd a ddaw!

Ystyriodd Mandy Lane oblygiadau moesol a deallol ei harfer ar hyn o bryd, â’i wreiddiau yn ei hunaniaeth, yn fenyw yn un o ardaloedd amddifaid Llanelli ac yn ymateb i hanesion cam-drin domestig o archif Cymorth i Fenywod Cymru. Arweiniodd hyn at waith cerfluniol newydd a defnydd profiadol o ffilm. Gewch chi wybod rhagor am arfer Mandy ar ei gwefan yma.  Yn sôn am gymryd rhan yn y rhaglen, meddai Mandy:

Bu’r profiad yma’n amhrisiadwy i’m harfer. Cynigiodd amser a lle i mi chwilio, myfyrio am themâu a phrosesau heb fod disgwyl na pheth gorffenedig na chasgliad yr ymchwil.  Roeddwn yn gallu cyflwyno fy ngwaith i arbenigwyr yn eu maes a chael ymateb craff perthnasol.  At hynny, cefais sesiynau rhannu rheolaidd gyda chymheiriaid o artistiaid … oedd yn trwytho’r gwaith ac sy’n dal i’w drwytho.  Diolch i Thrive WWA a Sarah Pace a Tracy Simpson.  Heb eich gwaith caled chi fyddai cyfleoedd fel hyn ddim yn bod.

PILOT – Addo’s Mentored Research & Development Programme for Wales-based artists to develop their practice in the public realm was funded by Wales Cultural Recovery Funding from the Arts Council of Wales.  It ran from January – March 2021 and offered four Wales-based artists paid opportunities to respond to the urgent issues of our time, with mentoring support from Addo’s Co-Directors.

It was important for Addo to use our position as an organisation to support freelance artists through the pandemic, especially as they were increasingly being called upon to help support the health and wellbeing of communities.  Each artist received six one-to-one mentoring sessions with Addo, interspersed with group peer-to-peer sessions and sessions with other relevant experts.  The programme emphasised the importance of open-ended R&D within the creative process and didn’t expect artists to produce a final outcome or artwork.

The programme sought to address questions about how the public realm exists and how art, artists, communities and organisations like Addo may respond to it in these unprecedented times.  These questions are all the more important given pressing current socio-political concerns around the climate change emergency, Brexit, the ongoing impact of the current government’s austerity measures in response to the global financial crisis, and equality and diversity concerns raised by movements such as #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and the LGBTIQ+ and Disability Rights Movements.  Many of these issues have been exacerbated or brought to the fore by the impact of Covid-19.

The four artists selected to take part in the programme following an open call and selection process were: Cheryl Beer, Rowan O’Neill, Jason & Becky and Mandy Lane.

Cheryl Beer experimented with repurposing hearing aid technology, encapsulating spectral frequency into glass to archive the shore-eroding tides and devised a process enabling her, as a hearing-impaired artist, to notate marine biorhythms to become a ‘conduit’ composer for the natural world and in doing so increase access to it for others.  Cheryl documents this process and the outcomes on her website here.  Cheryl said of her participation in the programme:

When the world needed healing, we turned to the creatives to sing, to dance, to draw, paint, make, play, watch, listen.  But the creatives need healing too.  Their jug is filled with the elixir of life but it cannot be poured indefinitely before it needs refilling.  If we need creatives to help us heal, then we need to take care of them.  That’s why I have been so grateful for my R&D mentorship with Addo Creative funded by Arts Council of Wales.  It was a pilot & I hope our feedback opens more opportunities for other artists to have the same space to nurture & apply their practice in new ways.

Rowan O’Neill produced a website and series of blog posts representing a retrospective consolidation of her writing and performance practice refocussing her energies into a personal practice that is more confidently able to work with the agendas of other agencies.  Her final presentation introduced her research ideas for a ‘folk’ opera based on the work of Victorian novelist Allen Raine and her novel of the Welsh revival Queen of the Rushes, set in and around a fictionalised Tresaith.  Find out more about these ideas here and read Rowan’s blog here, about which she has said,

Diwedd y lôn / The end of a road and the start of another. My final blog post written in response to the Addo mentored research and development programme […].  Thanks to Addo and Sarah Pace for the opportunity and my fellow artists on the scheme […].  I am just coming to the final stages of my project with Span Arts and PLANED, Cân Y Ffordd Euraidd / The Song of the Golden Road and I can hear how my words in the film are echoing through the themes and working process of the current project. The end of the mentoring was literally the start of another road – the so-called ‘golden road’ across the Preselis.

Jason & Becky explored how to equitably develop public engagement and challenge hierarchical structures that present an illusory clear divide between ‘low’ culture’s pure entertainment value and ‘high’ culture’s pedagogical merits.  Find out more here on their website.   Jason & Becky said of the programme:

The sessions were incredibly helpful and have reframed our perspective in terms of how larger projects in the public realm are undertaken, revealing to us the value of mentoring in the development of professional practice.  Six months on from Addo’s mentoring programme we are beginning to piece together and translate some of the interesting and challenging conversations that took place with Addo as well as their extended network of critical friends. The opportunity for critique and reflection with such a diverse range of practitioners and professionals has been invaluable, each with their own perspectives on how the work might be interpreted and developed – prompting a reframing of our own considerations and tendencies. Such an opportunity would hugely benefit other artists who are starting to think about producing work for the public realm, and we would encourage them to take up the offer should it arise in future!

Mandy Lane considered the moral and intellectual implications of her current practice, rooted in her identity as a woman in a deprived area of Llanelli and responding to domestic abuse accounts from the Welsh Women’s Aid archive.  This led to new sculptural work and experiential use of film. Find out more about Mandy’s practice on her website here.  Mandy has said of taking part in the programme:

This opportunity has been invaluable to my practice. It offered me time and space to explore, reflect on themes and process without an expectation of a finished object or conclusion to the research.  I was able to present my work to experts in their field and receive relevant insightful feedback. In addition, I had regular artist peer sharing sessions […] which did and continue to inform the work.  With thanks to Thrive WWA and Sarah Pace and Tracy Simpson.  Without your hard work opportunities like this wouldn’t exist.

Rhannwyd canlyniadau’r rhaglen mewn digwyddiad ar lein ar 28 Ebrill 2021 a chomisiynodd Addo yr artist Anthony Shapland i gynhyrchu ffilm yn trafod rhai o’r themâu allweddol ddaeth i’r fei o’r rhaglen.  Gellir gwylio’r ffilm yma gyda chapsiynau neu hebddynt.

The outcomes of the programme were shared at an online event on 28 April 2021 and Addo commissioned artist Anthony Shapland to produce a film discussing some of the key themes that emerged from the programme.  The film may be viewed here with / without captions.

Cyllidwyd y rhaglen yma gan Gronfa Adfer Diwylliannol Cymru Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru – COVID-19 Cefnogaeth i Sefydliadau.

This programme was funded by the Arts Council of Wales’ Wales Cultural Recovery Fund – COVID-19 Support for Organisations.