Well, we are up and running! Take a look at this, our new Ruthin Arts Network website and you will see instantly that it involves a range of creative activities mounted and explored by an expanding range of creative people who want to stay in touch with each other.

The idea for a website came almost casually, through a conversation about the lack of “space” (either virtual or real) in our area where artists can mingle and connect. We formed a small committee and to our delight discovered that the Arts Council of Wales have a fund that is specifically geared to networking and connections between artists. Before long we had a grant and enough money to commission a website from Haydn Peers at Snowdon Digital, with a small sum left over for events.

In December last year we launched the Ruthin Arts Network at the Old Court House in Ruthin, with some live music and then input from committee members to a small but appreciative audience. The whole project was well received and conversations went on in a positive vein afterwards.

Apart from basic administration and housekeeping, the website is, simply, what its members want it to be. We are not prescriptive in any way at all. Our hope is that artists, both semi-professional, amateur and professional, will meet through the website and get a greater sense of an artistic community in and around Ruthin. New collaborations and proposals to work together would of course be welcomed, but we mainly see the Network as a conduit for conversations, both between artists and artists and the communities they live in.

However, we also have ideas for the future, including being present at artistic events in and around Ruthin and mounting our own Social events. If you’re interested, come along to our next one, in the Feathers Inn in Ruthin on Wednesday, 15th May. There’ll be live music and an opportunity to meet and chat with like-minded people. See you there….?