Are you a poet or a writer who is eager to develop your skills in delivering creative writing and health and well-being projects in your local community? Do you believe in the power of literature and nature to inspire, improve, and brighten lives? Then read on!
Sgwennu’n Well | Writing Well is a 15-month professional development programme with aftercare support for a group of six early to mid-career facilitators with a minimum of 1 year of community project delivery. The programme focuses on intensely developing the skills and knowledge of facilitators specifically in the field of Health and Well-being.
The programme is in two parts. Part one offers intense training aiming to enhance the skills needed to facilitate literary activities in the community, and part two will be practical: supporting the cohort of facilitators to create and deliver a participatory project for a group which benefit the health and well-being of the participants. Nature will feature as a theme in this year’s scheme – looking at how nature can play an important role in encouraging well-being and inspiring creativity.
What’s on Offer?
- 1 bespoke in-person 3-day retreat led by clare e potter and Jill Teague at Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre (Friday 25 – Sunday 27 April 2025)
- 4 virtual training sessions featuring experienced facilitators and experts on arts for health and well-being (May & June 2025)
- A £1,000 bursary to attend the sessions (awarded on completion)
- A personal mentor for 4 x sessions. These sessions could be online meetings, or opportunities for you to shadow your mentor in facilitation sessions (April 2025 – July 2026)
- A pot of £3,000 to develop, deliver and evaluate a small facilitation project (project to be delivered before the end of March 2026)
- Support to evaluate and document your project (April – July 2026)
The first three months will offer opportunities to hone your skills as a literary facilitator. Important topics covered will include safeguarding, access and inclusion, and we will look at how to develop and plan a facilitation project carefully. This will include managing budgets, fundraising, and how to capture and communicate the impact of your work. The group will also explore the theory and practice of running literature for health and well-being projects for a wide variety of participants in various settings.
Following the initial three-months, the cohort will be given time to develop individual projects, using the toolkit and the new skills gained from the training programme. A pot of funding will then be available for the facilitators to deliver their projects. Literature Wales staff, and experienced mentors will be on hand to help with the development and delivery. These pilot projects will be a springboard to offer confidence and insight on how to venture on a career as a literary facilitator in Wales.
The programme will begin in April 2025 and run until July 2026.
Eligibility
The programme is open for those over the age of 18 and living in Wales at the time of application and throughout the 15-month programme. Please note that full time students are not eligible, and we will only accept applicants onto one of Literature Wales’ development and mentoring programmes in 2025-26.
We’re eager to encourage applications from individuals without fair representation in the creative sector, and from applicants who have faced barriers and discrimination due to ethnic background, disability, or experience of a low-income background. In particular, we welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals, Disabled individuals or those living with long-term health conditions, and working-class individuals. The programme will be delivered bilingually, and at least 50% of the spaces available will be allocated to Welsh-language facilitators.
Applicants for the programme will:
- Need to fully commit to taking part in all events and activities organised as part of the programme, including the residential weekend at Tŷ Newydd (25-27 April 2025)
- Have some experience of running creative writing or literature for health and well-being workshops in schools, communities or health settings, please expand in your application
- Be passionate about the potential of literature and literary activities to support the health and well-being of individuals and communities.
- Have an ambitious vision of how they will use their skills, personal lived experience, and the power of literature to inspire, improve and brighten lives.
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Literature Wales’ Pledge
Access: We’re committed to accommodating every candidate’s access needs. We ask you to tell us what you need so we can ensure you can access and navigate the application process safely and comfortably.
Training and Safeguarding: Literature Wales will organise safeguarding training and will continue to support the facilitators with this important element for the duration of the programme. The well-being of the facilitators themselves is also a priority for Literature Wales, and regular meetings will be held with the project coordinator to provide support and discuss any concerns.
Diversity: We’re passionate in our aim to address under-representations and inequalities within the arts. We will therefore be particularly interested in receiving applications from individuals who identify as being under-represented within Wales’ literary culture. For further guidance, please see FAQs.
The Climate Emergency: One of Literature Wales’ priorities is confronting/tackling the climate emergency. We aim to use the creative power of words to educate, challenge and inspire long-term change within this field. We also aim to ensure that all our projects are run in an environmentally friendly way. This will be a consideration when we assess applications, for example we might look for participants with a deep understanding or connection to their local communities looking to address issues in their own communities through their learning.
The Welsh Language: Literature Wales is committed to helping to create a wider pool of Welsh-speaking creative facilitators in all parts of Wales to carry out Welsh and bilingual projects.