Projects, The Lab Haverfordwest

The Lab/Confluence

The Confluence partnership was formed in October 2013 in response to the launch of Arts Council Wales’ Ideas: People: Places which aimed to embed the arts in a genuine and meaningful way, in a small number of imaginative, ambitious and innovative regeneration projects.

spacetocreate provided creative leadership working alongside iDeA Architects and three other partners: PLANED, Pembrokeshire County Council and Transition Haverfordwest.

An experimental participatory arts and regeneration programme – the Lab, ran alongside a series of socially engaged artist commissions in the three-year initiative, which provided an unparalleled investment in the arts and regeneration in Haverfordwest.

Image: Jenny Caldwell  – Toby Downing’s skeleton lanterns for River of Lights 2016

Examples of our work with Confluence include:

  • The production of PLATFORM – a three day contemporary art event in October 2016 presenting Haverfordwest as a stage for a programme of new commissions and existing artworks by artists living in and around Pembrokeshire.
  • Working in partnership with SPAN Arts Cheerful project and lead artist Toby Downing, to develop and establish River of Lights a spectacular annual community lantern procession and celebration of Haverfordwest and the rural hinterlands
  • Developing Ideas Lab – a regular monthly drop in session on the first Wednesday of every month as a test bed for arts and regeneration in Haverfordwest.
  • Place making programmes such as Artsheds and Great Place for Haverfordwest festival week

Watch an introduction to The Lab by film maker Sharron Harris.

To follow the story of the project visit the  timeline on the project website which documents events chronologically from the announcement of Ideas: People: Places, through to the completion of the project. Download the project final report here

“I think what’s most significant about Confluence for me is the possibility of things coming alive again and seeing that it’s growing …  I guess everything has a cycle and maybe it’s Haverfordwest’s turn to come out of this period of depression and liberate what it is, which is a phenomenally beautiful place, full of creative people.”

Find out more about about the Arts Council of Wales strategic initiative Ideas: People: Places and the six other arts and regeneration projects in Wales here.