Wales Wide Training Programme Cai Tomos Creative Practice Support Case Study

The Wales Wide Training Programme (WWTP) aims to inspire and sustain community dance in Wales by providing training in a strategic way, responsive to sector need. WWTP responds to sector need and is primarily a training programme for those working in dance across Wales. It is managed by Rubicon Dance and creates and connects a network of twenty two organisations and three hundred and eighty individuals working together to support training and professional development for the community dance sector across Wales. The programme is supported through the Arts Council of Wales.

The WWTP was established in 2013 with seven community dance organisations as partners. In 2023 there are now twenty two partners that include not only community dance organisations, but venues, universities and national companies from across Wales including Powys, Carmarthen, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caernarfon, Vale of Glamorgan, Newport, Monmouthshire, Ceredigion, Cardiff, Llanelli and Flintshire. The WWTP began with four strands in 2013 and now has seventeen strands some of which have been established in response to need and developed throughout the pandemic.

Ongoing research, evaluation and consultation has continued to highlight strong demand for a training programme that responds to the strategic needs of the sector. The programme was largely delivered through CPD days each term which took place across Wales and were hosted by WWTP partners. But, as the pandemic hit in March 2020 every strand of the WWTP was adapted to meet the more immediate needs and constraints. The work with Cai Tomos was a direct response to the isolation and confusion faced by the freelance dance sector as the pandemic closed everything down and we moved into lockdown in 2020. It has evolved and developed to meet changing needs as we have begun to emerge from the pandemic and has become one of the most valued components in the WWTP.

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