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Behind closed doors - April 2021

April has been another busy month, with summer knocking on the door and reopening preparations in full flow. Here's what we got up to in April 2021...

To begin with, we're delighted to announce that we've become an accredited Living Wage Employer and joined thousands of organisations, businesses and people, across the UK, who believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay!

Life Hack returned and we piloted our first ever digital event on 8 April, with a programme of online workshops for young people. Life Hack is an inspirational, free event for young people, putting them in touch with industry professionals and offering interactive, creative workshops.

Rambert: Rooms was streamed from 8 - 10 April with Rambert’s brilliant dancers inviting us into wildly different, immersive worlds from the comfort of our living rooms.

Radio Platfform ran another successful accredited training course for young people in conjunction with Promo Cymru and Sparc Valley’s Kids and we’re looking forward to seeing what our next batch of radio presenters will bring to the airwaves soon!

Young people on a Zoom video call

And this spring we also got behind Articulture Wales - a brilliant new initiative to create and tour high quality new outdoor arts in Wales.

On 9 April with the news that HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh had passed away, we offered our condolences to the Royal family and reflected on some of the happier times when the Duke and HRH Queen Elizabeth visited us, including our official opening in 2004.

The Queen shaking hands with people

12 April marked the start of Ramadan and we wished our Muslim friends in Wales and the world all the blessings of the holy month.

Ramadan light on top of a table at night

Our friends and residents at Welsh National Opera turned 75 this year so we wished them all a very Happy Birthday.

29 April we launched ‘Lockdown Games’ - a series of online workshops, with Mess Up The Mess Theatre Company putting people at the heart of the creative process while creating a brand-new piece of online theatre.

Three women dressed as waitresses

Show news, @luciejones1 will be reprising her role of Jenna in the hit musical comedy Waitress when it returns in May 2022.

And this November, the smash-hit, and critically acclaimed West End musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, comes to Cardiff with Layton Williams as Jamie New!

The Joker wearing a red suit laughing

Tickets for the ‘Joker - Live in Concert' went on sale. The award-winning film Joker will be screened with the accompaniment of a live orchestra playing Hildur Guðnadóttir’s award-winning score for the first time ever and you can grab your tickets here.

And direct from the West End, DREAMGIRLS is heading to Cardiff in April 2022! Tickets go on sale to the public on 14 May so that’s one for your diary.

That’s it for this month but before we go, we just want to let you know about all the different ways you can help us keep our creative and community work going – from Gift Aid to volunteering and many won’t even cost you a penny. Find out about other ways you can support us.

Many of the activities we're still able to carry out are a direct result of your kind donations, membership renewals and grant funding. We'd also like to thank the Arts Council of WalesMoondance Foundation and Garfield Weston, Paul Hamlyn FoundationThe Clive and Sylvia Richards Charity and The Simon Gibson Charitable Trust for allowing us to continue supporting the creative talent, young people and communities that need creativity now, more than ever.