STARS OF STAGE AND SCREEN COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE’S ROLE IN EXTENDING HORIZONS
On the day Wales Millennium Centre is announced as Wales’ National Treasure in a poll conducted by the National Lottery to find the most popular Lottery funded project, a new video has been publicly released highlighting the extent of the Centre’s work on and off the stage.
To increase awareness of the breadth of what the Centre does, over and above putting on award winning shows, in its 10th anniversary year the team has turned to Cardiff based agency JM Creative to produce an innovative short film. Entitled ‘What has Wales Millennium Centre ever done for us?’ It is groundbreaking in its approach, and has already been recognized as hugely impactful by colleagues in the charitable sector.
Multi-award winning company JM Creative is run by John Morgan (ex BBC) and Tony Lakin (ex Sky TV). Originally best known for their unique and humorous BBC promos supporting the Welsh rugby team, they have gone on to corner the market in producing engaging and inspirational short films for a number of major institutions including Cambridge University, the Welsh Government and the NSPCC.
With a brief to create something that was unique, memorable and humorous, whilst reflecting Wales’ talent in the creative industries, the duo turned to Monty Python for inspiration. The short film includes an array of celebrities from the theatre world.
Fronted by comedian Rhod Gilbert, it includes stars of stage and screen including Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Sheen, Siân Phillips, Bryn Terfel, Griff Rhys Jones and Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries). All gave of their time freely in support of the Centre’s charitable objectives of being a place for people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy and participate in the arts.
It also features philanthropist Dame Vivien Duffield, a great supporter of the Centre and the arts in general, as well as direct beneficiaries, including children and young people, who have been involved with the Centre within its own square mile and further afield.
“Few realise that Wales Millennium Centre is a registered charity. Indeed few realise, that as a successful arts centre, we still need to fundraise to do more free activities out in our communities; extending horizons, enabling our children and young people, who would not otherwise have access to the arts, to enjoy a whole range of educational arts projects’, said Mathew Milsom, the Centre’s Managing Director. ‘We can change lives, and we do through many of the fantastic projects we undertake”, he added.
For example: Murmurs of the Furnace, with 200 children from all over Wales, performing on our stage, the recent Lord of the Flies dance production, featuring 24 boys, most of whom had never danced before, and Only Kids Aloud, our children’s chorus, who have performed in Russia, in the opening ceremony of London 2012 and this year in South Africa. These are but three of the many projects undertaken by the Centre every year, increasing young people’s educational attainment, aspirations and self confidence through arts and culture.
The Centre wants to encourage followers on social media to spread the word far and wide by sharing the video with as many people as possible, friends, relatives and colleagues across the globe.
“We have much to celebrate in Wales, but we’re often a bit coy as a nation about shouting about it, unless of course it’s on the rugby pitch! Being voted the people’s National Treasure is testament that the people of Wales are proud of the Centre and I want everyone who has been involved in our first ten years, in any shape or form, to tell the world. We may be a small country but in the performing arts we are punching well above our weight, so lets celebrate that”, added Mathew Milsom.
BAFTA award-winning composer John Rea has composed music for the video.