A festival to unite Wales and celebrate Welsh culture during the 2022 World Cup has been announced.
Lasting for at least 10 days, Gwyl Cymru Festival is set to bring communities together to cheer on Rob Page's Wales team as they head to Qatar to feature in their first World Cup since 1958. Any venue showing Wales matches or staging cultural events is urged to register their event online at gwyl.cymru by October 19, where a directory will be created to maximise turnout and support.
Unlike Euro 2016, when official fanzones were organised across Wales for fans to celebrate together, the winter scheduling of the World Cup in Qatar, combined with kick-off times, has meant no major plans for official fanzones in Wales have yet been announced. So grassroots venues are being invited to stage their own gatherings as part of a united front of support.
At the centre of the festival will be independent grassroots venues, with football clubs, community organisations and local venues, among others, now being invited to start planning their own events for the festival in the hope of creating a lasting cultural legacy to Wales' World Cup appearance.
Cultural events, other than staging coverage of Wales matches on TV, could include music performances, comedy nights, film screenings, children's activities, literary sessions or art workshops, for example.
As fans unite, new and existing audiences will get the chance to engage with Welsh arts, culture and language.
Gwyl Cymru Festival will start on November 19, two days before Wales' first World Cup match in 64 years, and the Football Association of Wales says the event "aims to unify and amplify the wealth of arts, music and events being created for Cymru’s historic World Cup journey – in locations across Wales and beyond."
In the group stages, Wales face USA on November 21, then Iran on November 25 before a final clash against old rivals England on November 29. They hope to finish in the top two to then enter the knockout rounds.
FAW chief executive Noel Mooney said: "The FAW are proud to be utilising our incredible World Cup campaign to work with grassroots independent venues through Gwyl Cymru Festival. In collaboration with our fantastic partners, we are calling on arts centres, music venues, football clubs and community enterprises across Wales to join us in the support of our Cymru men’s national team. The Gwyl Cymru Festival events can range from live music events in front of hundreds to art workshops or Q&As and comedy sets with 20 attendees. We can’t wait to see those across Wales join together in support of the Cymru team.”
Gwyl Cymru Festival is being supported by the Welsh Government’s World Cup partner support fund, which will see £1.8million shared among 19 projects including a concert in North America highlighting Welsh culture and a new football museum for Wales in Wrexham.
Wales' economy minister Vaughan Gething said: "The FIFA World Cup offers a historic opportunity to promote Wales. The Gwyl Cymru Festival will build excitement for the tournament in Qatar and unite Cymru behind the team with a celebration of our wonderful culture and heritage."
Nick Davies, who has been appointed World Cup arts producer for the event being co-produced by the FAW and The Arts Council of Wales, said: "This is a special moment for football in Wales – and also for Welsh culture. The world is watching so we want to create and promote events that best represent what Cymru is about – events that are inclusive, celebratory and fun, that people from all our communities can engage in."
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