Dylan Thomas Swansea Abertawe 2014 – Co-ordinating Group

Meeting @ 2pm 17.01.13. - Room 1.2.1, Civic Centre

Minutes

Present:-

Spencer Feeney (SF) / Chair
Emma Cartwright (EC) / Mission Gallery
Ann Jordan (AJ) / Elysium Gallery
Paul Hopkins (PH) / Grand Theatre
Michael Bogdanov (MB) / Wales Theatre Co. (Dylathon)
Kay Denyer (KD) / Dylathon
Sally Homer (SH) / Dylathon
Zoe Simpson (ZS) / Dylathon
Dreena Morgan-Harvey (DMH) / DylanThomasTheatre
Paul Whittaker (PW) / Mumbles Traders Association
Hannah Page (HP) / Swansea B.I.D.
JeffTowns (JT) / Dylan Thomas Society
Pierre Davies (PD) / Do Not Go Gentle Festival
Garethe El-Tawab (GE) / CCSSwanseaMuseum
Glenda Thomas (GT) / CCSGlynnVivianArtGallery
Marie Szymonski (MS) / NationalWaterfrontMuseum
Steve Hopkins (SHM) / CCS Marketing
John Birmingham (JB) / CCSEvents

Apologies:-

Adrian Metcalf (AM) / Lighthouse Theatre
Sybil Crouch (SC) / Taliesin Arts Centre
Geraint Davies (GD) / MP Swansea West
Catherine Lewis (CL) / TourismSwanseaBay
Steve Hopkins (SHP) / CCS Parks
Geoff Haden (GH) / Dylan Thomas Birthplace
John Spurr (JS) / SwanseaUniversity

1.0Apologies & New Members

1.1Apologies as above, SF welcomed HP, GT, KD, SH and ZS.

2.0Minutes of the Last Meeting

2.1Point 1.1–JB said that the newly branded at the top of the search list and will be regularly updated. SF encouraged all members to send events into JB so they could be displayed on the site, he also encouraged everyone to tweet and re-tweet information emanating from @dtcswansea - @cdtabertawe.

Action All

2.2Point 1.2–SHM said that the branded bus would be taking a CwmdonkinPark route in the future and he was hopeful that it could be numbered 5 to coincide with 5. Cwmdonkin Drive, the birthplace.

2.3Point 1.3 SF asked if the Dylan Thomas Swansea Abertawe 2014 PR agency ‘Working Word’ could present to the group. SH said that Working Word had already had considerable success with the media including recent positive articles in The Independent, he would ask them to present at the April meeting.

Action SHM

2.4Point 2.3 PW is developing the idea of ringing church bells, fireworks etc.on the centenary of Dylan Thomas’ he planned to talk to GH to see if an event in Mumbles could be linked to celebrations at the birthplace.

2.5Point 2.4 Regarding the possibility of Dylan Thomas coins and stamps JB said that he was awaiting an update from the Welsh Government.

2.4Point 3.7 JT said that GH was pursuing resources for a statue of Dylan Thomas opposite the birthplace, he had also heard of other related public art concepts.

2.5Point 5.2 JB reported that he had been unable to source suitable material to show on the big screen in Castle Square.

3.0Marketing update

3.1SH gave the group a marketing update about how the brand would be managed and implemented on and off-line. There would be regular media releases, brochures and flyers would be distributed and leading journalists would be encouraged to visitSwansea and Gower. JT asked if there was a war-time link to maximise the WW1 connection, SF thought that it would be an incentive to give journalists a Dylan Thomas book, was there a list of Dylan Thomas war-time material. JT said that he could assist with this.

3.2SF asked if a National Express coach could be branded. SH said that he would look into this.

Action – SHM

3.3SH said that there would be branding within Swansea City Centre, SF asked about Uplands, SH said that there would be new settlement entry signs. DMH asked about new brown signs in The Boulevard area, SH said that the idea was to replace like for like and he would look into it.

Action – SHM

4.0Project updates

4.1AJ updated the group on Elysium Gallery projects including Friends of Cwmdonkin Park events:- ‘Welsh Mam’s Day’will take place on 27th April in commemoration of Dylan Thomas’ mother Florence who’s birthday was on the same date. ‘The Green Fuse Festival’ will take place on 6th September; the event will emulate the successful Park re-opening event in 2013.

4.2EC said that Mission Gallery was developing ‘Lyrical One’ which would take place in October. The project includes 6 one day musician and writer led workshops for young people.

4.3MB and the Dylathon team explained that they were pioneering a marathon non-stop reading of Dylan Thomas’ work at the Grand Theatre. The event would start at 10am on 26th October and end at 11pm on 27th October, numerous ‘A-list’ celebrities had shown an interest in taking part.

4.4PH reported that JT would be launching his book ‘A Pearl of Great Price, The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas to Pearl Kazin’ on 14th February at the Grand Theatre to enhance a ‘Clown in the Moon’ performance, a question and answer session would follow with JT and Clown in the Moon performer Rhodri Miles.

4.5JT updated the group regarding the Dylan Thomas Society’s wreath-laying ceremony which would now take place on 25th October due to World War 1 commemorations.

4.6GE said that there were a number of Dylan Thomas events coming up at SwanseaMuseum including lectures on 21st February.

5.0Event calendar update

5.1JB distributed the latest 2014 ‘Dylan Thomas Swansea Abertawe 2014’ events list.

6.0Any other business

6.1No other business was recorded.

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