Pierhead Sessions
4 - 6 Mar 2010
The inaugural Pierhead Sessions took place from 4 – 6 March 2010 in the Pierhead Building located opposite the Senedd building in Cardiff Bay. The popular three day festival brought together the sharpest minds to focus on issues that affect you, Wales and the world.
The Pierhead Sessions were produced by The Festivals Company for the National Assembly for Wales as part of a contract to offer event management support for the Assembly’s 10 years of devolution programme.
"We were asked to reinvigorate interest and understanding between the Assembly and the people of Wales. So we took our initial idea of a politics festival and expanded it to include the environment, media, journalism and culture. The finished programme was deliberately eclectic to allow the Assembly to reach different groups in the community including Doctor Who fans, those who are passionate about democracy and lovers of new Welsh music etc," said Berwyn Rowlands.
The sessions for the inaugural festival included a unique version of the Sherman Cymru Youth Theatre’s groundbreaking social experiment Kontakt (pictured left) which brought together politicians with young people aged 12 – 24; panel discussions on the future of journalism, promoting democracy (featuring Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas, pictured above right) sustainable food production and distribution, global citizenship, and the impact the success of Doctor Who has had to Cardiff and Wales, as well as Dockers Run - a social gaming experience at the cutting edge of large scale street theatre, which encompassed technology, public collaboration and education, and a late night session of music and comedy curated by the Sŵn music festival.
The festival’s keynote speech was given by George Monbiot to a capacity audience. During his session he gave his views on the outcome of the Copenhagen summit and explained how Wales was capable of leading the world to develop a more sustainable future over the next decade. The lecture was introduced by Jane Davidson AM, the Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing.
"The Festivals Company was responsible for all aspects of producing the festival covering the festival speakers and themes, infrastructure including staging and filming, marketing covering design and a brand new website together with implementing a PR strategy and careful management of the budget," added Berwyn.
As part of the project, the Festivals Company collaborated with Cardiff University and the University of Glamorgan to create Pierhead Sessions TV, which involved students from both institutions – under the guidance of journalist Andrew Gurney and Tall Man Films – interviewing some of the leading lights from the festival. All the interviews, along with 5 of the main sessions, can be viewed on the festival website alongside images from the event website www.pierheadsessions.org
Photo: Made in Wales: Doctor Who session in partnership with BBC Cymru Wales.
