Tŷ Cerdd: Talent Development Fund 2020
Tŷ Cerdd’s mission is to promote and celebrate the music of Wales. We work with professionals and non-professionals, composers and performers, to bring the music of Wales to audiences at home and further afield; to protect music of the past and develop the Welsh music of the future. The organisation develops profile and practice for composers (supported by a publishing imprint, record label & studio, and library/archive), and supports non-professionals through a range of membership services and performance/funding opportunities. Tŷ Cerdd’s talent development work centres around our CoDi programme (codi in Welsh = to raise) – a multi-faceted programme for music-creators across Wales.
CoDi is a programme of interventions including: career development through creative projects; training/CPD through network events and online; mentoring and buddying opportunities, including Adopt a Music-Creator. Central to the 2020 – 2021 programme are three creative pathways: CoDi DIY – support for 10 music-creators, cross-genre, who have not accessed education or formal training structures in music post-school. Five of these posts are funded through Youth Music. Mentors including Pwyll ap Sion, Sarah Angliss, Katel Keineg, Gareth Bonello. CoDi Experimental – three leading experimental artists (Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Siwan Rees) take six participants music-creators through a pathway exploring experimental practice, taking finds from the Tŷ Cerdd archive as a starting point. CoDi Opera – composer Robert Fokkens and writer/dramaturg Sophie Rashbrook lead six participating composers through a pathway investigating scenario, libretto creation and text-setting.
‘Much as delivering (almost) the entire programme by Zoom has been a pale imitation of the Real Life experience, it’s been a privilege to be able to support music-creators at a time when their need is so great. The creativity of the artists has been incredible, and the increased connectivity of digital an unexpected plus.’