Emergence
An immersive week-long retreat living and working together with four other experienced screenwriters
Working on your dream pilot episode.
Spring Retreat: 5th – 12th April 2025
Autumn Retreat: 4th – 11th October 2025
Dyfi Valley, Mid Wales, UK
With Screenwriter/Facilitator Philip Ralph
A re-immersion into the practice of Emergence for those who have already undergone Vision Fast, Space for Change or a shorter rite of passage with us.
Deepen your practice of rites of passage and nature, body and spirit connection.
25th – 28th April 2024
Dyfi Valley, Mid Wales, UK
With Artist/Guides Fern Smith & Philip Ralph
An immersive week-long retreat living and working together with four other experienced screenwriters
Working on your dream pilot episode.
2nd – 9th November 2024
Dyfi Valley, Mid Wales, UK
With Screenwriter/Facilitator Philip Ralph
“Are you an artist? Are you a shape-shifter? Are you in transition? Are you welcoming or resisting change? Are you stepping into the unknown? Are you proceeding ‘as if,’ with no sense of certainty or security? If so I’d like to invite you to join me…”
‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ was an invitation to 7 artists who identify as female to participate in a 7-day immersive experience which explored identity, transformation and the power of ceremony. ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ was for artists at a point of transition, in a state of fluidity, flux, confusion, exhaustion or questioning.
‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ was guided by Fern Smith as part of her ‘Creative Wales’ year-long enquiry which included 4 residencies at 4 venues along the Welsh coastline. Each residency asked the question ‘Is the Artist in Residence?’ Each residency took a different form and extended a different invitation.
Throughout this, Fern’s third residency, she based herself in one of the iconic creative units designed by Heatherwick Studios at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ took inspiration from pan-cultural female ‘Rites of Passage’ specifically the three stages of: ‘Incubation’, ‘Metamorphosis’’ and ‘Emergence’. The projectwas also designed so as to work with the number 7. 7 artists who identify as female were invited to work for 7 days, 7 hours each day.
This creative enquiry involved working with personal stories and collective archetypal images, spending time alone in nature with opportunities for making pilgrimage, body-voice exploration, a day of fasting, times of feasting, space for attunement to universal energies, deep dialogue and self-generated ceremony. The ceremonial space we created together and alone was intended to mark a commitment, a severance, an Emergence into a new identity… This represented a space to be still, be resourced, be inspired. And an opportunity to connect to the mysterious, our own intuitive knowing and the deep well of creativity that is within each one of us.
Who Do You Think You Are? Was an exploration and intervention, which represented part of Fern Smith’s Creative Wales journey made possible with support from The Arts Council of Wales.
“Who Do You Think You Are? is the most edgy thing I’d done to date… I’ve been a theatre maker and performer for 25 years with Volcano Theatre, then a curator, commissioner and documenter of socially and ecologically engaged art with Emergence. I’m also a celebrant, coach and cranio-sacral therapist. What is my art-form? What is yours? I’ve put this invite out to find 7 artists who trust me enough to travel into unknown territory with me. 7 artists who want to give themselves time and space to explore new forms, connect to the source of their deep creativity and spend time in ceremony alone and with others. I am actively questioning the practice of art-making in life and society – its form and its function. I am asking myself questions like: ‘How do we live in the world as artists, as change-makers, as agents of creativity, in service of all life forms on this planet at this great time of instability and uncertainty?’ I have a desire to bring the practice of art closer to the art of living, to connect to the future as it emerges.
Would you like to join me?”
Image credits: Mr & Mrs Clark (“Smash It Up” project)
The three case studies chosen are representative of the kinds of socially engaged projects being undertaken by artists working in Wales and further afield. They are ‘Mr & Mrs Clark’s Smash It Up’ ‘Oriel Wrecsam & The Shepherd’s Hut Project’ and ‘Vetch Veg’.
‘Culture Shifters’ is a response to an invitation from the Arts Council of Wales to document arts development projects where creativity has been used to generate broader societal change impacts in line with the work of the Enterprise and Regeneration Team. Sian Tomos Director of Enterprise and Regeneration says, “we want to use these case studies to raise interest in and enthusiasm for the role of artists in promoting social change.”
Throughout Spring 2016, a selection of people involved in each of the art projects were interviewed. In order to tell each story in as direct and immediate way as possible, I have assembled verbatim transcripts of each of the interviews. Further resources and reading including websites of the projects and artists involved can be found at the back.
Read the report HERE
‘Culture Shift: How Artists are Responding to Sustainability in Wales’ was commissioned by the Arts Council of Wales in 2014. Emergence bid for and succeeded in the tender, not as consultants but as artists. We aimed at the process and outcome as being a creative collaboration between artists and those working in the field of sustainability designed to include as many voices as possible. We see this report very much building on and contributing to a growing narrative that appears to be gaining momentum and confidence across Wales, the UK and beyond.
‘Culture Shift’ gives a glimpse of the many pioneering sustainable arts initiatives currently operating across Wales. It is by no means a definitive list but is representative of the varied initiatives and approaches we came across whilst highlighting common themes and methodologies.
The report is a witness to what is going on already. It is also intended as a statement of intent and a call to action. It highlights the power of the arts to contribute towards or even take a leading role in the transition to a life-sustaining society. It is hoped that this report will contribute towards future arts policy within the context of the Welsh Government’s ‘Well-being of Future Generations’ Bill’. The report draws attention to how a growing number of artists are leading a paradigm shift in values and relationships around access to future resources.
“Wales – a creative culture where artists are in abundance – is one of only three democracies willing to hold themselves legally accountable for promoting principles of sustainability. It is no surprise, therefore, that this leading edge report comes from Wales. Without artists how can we ever fully feel our way into a sustainable community or create the relationships that sustain us through difficult times?”
Margaret Wheatley, activist, consultant and author
We hope that ‘Culture Shift’ will be a working document. We hope that it will serve as an impetus for others to join the conversation and to support those already doing this work. It contains recommendations to the Arts Council of Wales regarding future arts policy in supporting the development of such pioneering practice. It is backed up by case studies and interviews from many artists and organisations and builds on the results from a sector wide survey conducted in Spring 2014. The appendices to the report give the survey data in more detail as well as naming many projects, formative books, articles, useful resources, contacts and organisations.
Although we’ve concentrated on Welsh activity we also framed it within the context of the wider changes and inspirations Welsh artists are drawing from those outside – including Artsadmin, Julies Bicycle, Tipping Point, Platform, Creative Carbon Scotland, People United, Encounters and Case for Optimism.
The report is available in Welsh and in English as a download. Appendices are available in English only.
The Creu Cymru Emergence project is working in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle, Cardiff University and Cynnal Cymru to support a network of 18 theatres and art centres across Wales. The project aims to effect behaviour change and enable the participants to become more resilient by considering the challenges and opportunities of making sustainability intrinsic to their thinking and practice.
Following attendance at the Emergence conferences,Case for Optimism, Document Launch and Emergence Summit a number of individuals from venues in Wales and Wales venue development agency Creu Cymru, decided to take on the issue of sustainability as a key core organising principle. In partnership with Cynnal Cymru, Julies Bicycle and BRASS at Cardiff University a pilot group of seventeen venues was formed to look at every aspect of running a theatre sustainably from box-office to lighting grid.
More details of the project can be found in this press release on the Creu Cymru website.
The next phase of the project (September 2013 – June 2014) will look at participation and programming within the context of sustainability. This new phase will be launched at the World Stage Design Festival on 13th September 2013. For more information visit our World Stage Design Festival Emergence project page.
“A great partnership project that embeds principle into practice”
Rhodri Thomas
“It’s great to be involved in the Creu Cymru Emergence project. I’m excited to be working with the 18 Theatres and Arts Centres and our partners to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector in making”
Launch event at the Wales Millennium Centre for the bilingual Emergence Eginiad report. Arresting ideas, practical advice and useful contacts from the 20 pioneering talks featured at the Emergence conferences in 2010/11.
The original intention after the conferences in Cardiff, Swansea and Caernarfon was to finish with a similar event at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth. As many organisations were facing an uncertain future in the light of new policies and investment reviews from Welsh Government, Cynnal Cymru included, the timing was difficult to commit to the intended event. Originally this seemed a blow as the energy behind and interest in the project was becoming more palpable. We decided therefore with the support of our funders to redirect our grant not into another event but into creating a publication. In retrospect this seems like we were trusting in emergent design rather than allowing a prescriptive plan to lead us! The talks at the conferences were such a valuable resource it felt an important step in the process to make these as widely available as possible. We had already filmed each of the talks and began to put them online, however it seemed essential to collect these extraordinary presentations together in one place. This meant that the whole story of the three conferences as it had unfolded – from context, through interconnectivity to resilience – could be told.
Fern met many people since the beginning of Emergence who voiced that storytellers have a great role to play in the transition to a more sustainable society. Transition Town’s project ‘Tales to Sustain’ and Dark Mountain’s work are two examples of the power of story at this uncertain time. The story of industrial progress of continual growth and the creation of wealth through increased commodity consumption is just that – a story. This story however has become the dominant paradigm and has shaped the world in which we live and is the reason we find ourselves in our current global predicament. There are other stories and it is high time to hear them.
The power that drives Emergence is the story that it is hearing, collecting and re-telling. The Emergence document became the next piece of work – the next project, a homage to the storyteller.
With the help of the original speakers, we began the work of editing the talks into a distilled, readable version that retained the power, accessibility and immediacy of the spoken word. This was a more complex undertaking than we had originally thought. We wanted to keep the talks fresh, the use of language personal to each speaker whilst at the same time create a coherent document which would make sense to those not at the live event.
Hearing the right words at the right moment in our life is a crucial precursor of change. Sometime we hear but do not listen – or is it that we listen and do not hear? The spoken word can move us in a way that the written cannot. Perhaps the vibrations enter our bodies and literally ‘move us’ to act. How to retain this power in the literary form?
The publication of the document became another marker in the unfolding story of emergence. We decided to shine a spotlight on it by using its launch as another opportunity to gather people together and continue the conversation.
The Wales Millennium Centre offered us their venue in return for the opportunity of sharing with guests how sustainability is being incorporated as a core organising principle into the management and practices of this iconic building. This created a focus for the event and encouraged us to organise a low-carbon infrastructure seminar. After the speeches and supportive words of encouragement from John Griffiths (Minister for Environment and Sustainability at the Welsh Government), Louise Wright (British Council Wales), and Nick Capaldi (Chief Exec Arts Council Wales) this is what we got our collective teeth into.
The example of what was happening at WMC (and how it had significantly reduced emissions and running costs) and a presentation from Catherine Langabeer at Julies Bicycle galvanized those present into action. Representatives from some of the major companies, arts organisations and venues in Wales were present in the room. This was clearly one of those eureka moments when people begin to see exactly what difference can be made by a small committed group of individuals. The power of information sharing and collective action was at the heart of the discussions. Deborah Keyser from the Welsh venue network Creu Cymru and Lori Frater from BRASS (Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society) were also in the room and were the inspiration behind what was to become one of successful early project outcomes of this first phase of the Emergence project – Emergence Creu Cymru.
Emergence conducts a survey of practising artists in Wales about their attitudes and understanding of sustainability in relation to their practice and the arts industry.
Early in 2010 in advance of any of the Emergence conferences and before the Emergence project had really got going Rhodri Thomas and Fern Smith were interested in assessing just how involved Welsh artists were already with sustainability.
At that time Rhodri & Fern’s sense that artists had a real role to play in imagining and shaping the future was just a gut feeling. Rhodri Thomas, co-creator of Emergence was convinced that statistics and graphs could not change the world but that artists could. In advance of launching Emergence it was important to get a sense of how engaged artists were and what was being done already, so Emergence wouldn’t replicate existing projects or reinvent any wheels unnecessarily.
It was also important to hear from artists what they needed from Emergence and what type of activity or information would fire them up to the task of co-creating the future.
The information returned from a survey is always only a part of the picture. Rhodri & Fern knew that artists who completed the survey might be ones who had strong views either way about sustainability issues. However, this was a beginning and as soon as the results began to accumulate some interesting patterns emerged.
One of the most important patterns for Emergence was the disparity between how important people thought sustainability was, how they supported engagement and involvement in their personal lives, but when it came to their professional practice or position at work then these issues did not seem so much of a priority. Prior to the survey Fern & Rhodri had spoken to contacts at Arts Council Wales and got a sense that sustainability was not yet really on the agenda (this was only in 2010). Sustainability appeared to be something that the Arts Council knew they would need to begin to address (especially in the light of the Welsh Assembly’s ‘One Wales: One Planet’ strategy), but it wasn’t at the top of the list of priorities at that particular time. If Emergence was going to be approaching Arts Council for funding, then they would need a sense of how interested and involved their clients were and exactly what was being done already.
Around this time Julie’s Bicycle had just finished a review of the carbon footprint of bands/festivals and orchestras, and were now focusing on the environmental impact of touring theatre. Julie’s Bicycle were early supporters of Emergence and subsequently became part of a small Emergence advisory group contributing to the first Emergence conference in Cardiff. This was a very significant moment as it was the first time that Alison Tickell from Julie’s Bicycle had presented in Wales.
Fern & Rhodri also had lots of anecdotal evidence that the artists leading or getting involved in sustainability were the visual artists. Certainly participation at Tipping Point conferences seemed to confirm these early impressions. Working on the survey felt a very pivotal stage of the whole project. Emergence wanted to approach artists as a whole – not different art forms separately. There seemed to be few gatherings that brought artists as a sector together. From the start we wanted to have conversations across art forms and to look at what united us in terms of sustainability, our role and our place in the world.