Photos: Inside the Live Finale of GALWAD

Photos have been released from the live finale of GALWAD - a story told in real-time over seven days that offered a glimpse into the future and asked what would happen if the future tried to contact us.

On Sunday 2 October in Blaenau Ffestiniog GALWAD - a story which had unfolded over seven days concluded in a major live event set against the dramatic landscape of Blaenau Ffestiniog in Snowdonia.

The performance, which began with a rally of young people from Blaenau and rousing speech from the lead character - Efa, led onto a procession to the Llyn ffridd y bwlch lake where a spectacular event unfolded with score by Dyfan Jones, choreography by Anthony Matsena and special effects by Ronan Devlin. For those viewing live on Sky Arts, the signature 'immersive single-shot' filmmaking of the week rooted the remote viewer right in the middle of the action.

GALWAD, commissioned by Creative Wales as part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, brought together a 250-strong team of Wales' boldest creative talent to tell a story through live streaming and live broadcast from Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Ffestiniog. Throughout the week audiences followed the story online and on Sky Arts as it moved between Wales today and thirty years into the future.

Over the last week the story has unfolded in real-time on digital and broadcast platforms, blending live performance and storytelling across social platforms, forming a new kind of cultural event.

The story culminated in a four-and-a-half-hour broadcast on Sky Arts (Freeview Channel 11) from 4.30pm - 9pm on Sunday 2 October which gave people the chance to catch-up on the week's events in Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Ffestiniog before the final 90-minute finale live broadcast from Blaenau Ffestiniog followed by a 60-minute drama set in Wales in 2052. Audiences can catch up on the full story by visiting https://www.galwad.cymru

This week, launching on Monday 3 October, over 130 Welsh schools will participate in GALWAD's schools programme, in partnership with Eco-schools. The programme takes students on a journey to imagine the future they want to build. Live lessons and activities will inspire pupils to explore what the future means for their schools, communities, and their lives. More information on GALWAD's A Week in the Future schools programme can be found at https://www.galwad.info/schools.

GALWAD began with a 'world-building' process led by Alex McDowell (Minority Report) with 120 people from across Wales. It was inspired by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, which puts future generations at the heart of policy decisions, GALWAD invited audiences to explore the moral dilemmas and possibilities of a future impacted by a 1.8 degree rise in global temperatures and widespread social change.

GALWAD is a major pan-Wales collaboration across film, digital, theatre and sustainability sectors led by National Theatre Wales with Frân Wen; the Centre for Alternative Technology; Disability Arts Cymru; Clwstwr; Ffilm Cymru, Sugar Creative and Mad as Birds TV production company.

Creative Director for GALWAD, Claire Doherty led a team of established and emerging Welsh talent, including writer Owen Sheers with a 16-strong writing team; theatre director Gethin Evans; choreographer Anthony Matsena; writer and dramaturg Kaite O'Reilly; composer Dyfan Jones and artist Marc Rees.

Photo Credit: Kirsten McTernan

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