PORT TALBOT: Seven chances in October to say what should go in the town’s £3m culture bid

Port Talbot‘s bid for £3m of culture money is coming to the shopping centre, the library and the football ground this month to ask one question: what should be in it?

Seven “Say It Proud” sessions run across Port Talbot and the Afan Valley from 6 October, and the partnership running the bid says the ideas people bring will shape what goes to the judges in November.

The open drop-ins start at Cwmafan Library on Friday 9 October and Aberafan Shopping Centre on Saturday 10 October. Anyone can turn up and say what they want from a year of culture in 2028.

Later in the month the bid team joins the Neath CVS roadshow at Sandfields Methodist Church on Thursday 22 October, sets up before kick-off at Trefelin Boys and Girls Club’s ground on Friday 23 October, and takes a stall at the Croeserw Family Fun Day on Thursday 29 October.

Two sessions are ticketed. The first, at the New Plaza on Tuesday 6 October, is free and aimed at artists, creatives and anyone who works or volunteers in the cultural sector. The second is a Founder Network evening with former Wales hooker Richard Hibbard at the Sand Rabbit Bar and Grill on Wednesday 14 October, with bid team members there to take ideas.

For anyone who cannot make any of them, there is a survey on the bid’s new website, porttalbottownofculture.wales.

What £3m would buy, and who Port Talbot is up against

Port Talbot and the Afan Valley were shortlisted in July, one of 15 towns picked from 398 applications. They sit in the medium-town category of the first UK Town of Culture competition alongside Pontypridd, and only one town per category goes through as a finalist.

The winner gets £3m for what the partnership describes as a year-long programme of culture in 2028. The two other finalists get £250,000 each. The full bid has to be in by 30 November, and the winner is due to be announced in February 2027.

The campaign now has a name, “Say It Proud. Port Talbot”, along with a website and social channels, a week after Gemma Charnock was named chair of the Neath Port Talbot Culture Partnership. The partnership is delivering the bid, with Neath Port Talbot Council as the accountable body.

‘Port Talbot telling its own story, in its own voice’

Cllr Cen Phillips, the council’s cabinet member for nature, tourism and wellbeing, said: “This bid is about Port Talbot telling its own story, in its own voice. We know there is an extraordinary amount of creativity, talent, passion and community spirit across our town and the Afan Valley, and we want to hear from the people who live, work and create here.”

He wants to hear “what should be included in the bid, what sorts of cultural events they’d like to see, and what they think makes Port Talbot so special”.

Ms Charnock said the town’s cultural scene was “thriving”, with community groups and organisations working to “engage more people and enrich lives through culture”. “We want to hear from those organisations, and also from individuals across Port Talbot and the Afan Valley to make sure no story goes untold,” she said.

The bid, she added, was “a unique opportunity to showcase all that this region has to offer”.

The partnership’s pitch leans on the names everyone knows, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheen, alongside the town’s street art, music and Welsh-language scene. It says the bid is about shining a light on what already exists across the town and the valley.

The engagement programme runs through October, with event details and the stories gathered along the way going out through the campaign’s website, newsletter and social channels.

Author

Kit Peters

Kit Peters is a journalist and the editor of Swansea Bay News, covering Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire since 2020.