SPAN Arts’s Cynnig Cymraeg

SPAN is a vibrant community arts charity based in Narberth, with a 30 year history of bringing the arts to rural Pembrokeshire. Read about their experience of receiving the Cynnig Cymraeg (Welsh Offer) below. 

What Welsh language services do you offer? 

SPAN is a proud bilingual organisation with Welsh-speaking staff, board members, volunteers, artists, and Welsh and Bilingual programming.  

Why is using the Welsh language important to you?  

The Welsh language is central to our community, 25.2% of the general population of 

Pembrokeshire speak at least some Welsh, which raises to 70.6% of the population 

in key wards in the North of the county, some of the highest density of Welsh 

speakers in all of Wales. The language is part of the people and our shared culture.  

Describe the process of creating a Welsh Language Development Plan, from the decision to prepare a plan to receiving recognition from the Commissioner. 

We started to develop our plan as a way of formalising our commitment to the Welsh Language, we adopted a template available from the Commissioner.  

That plan was reviewed (post covid). We were helped with a few sections and talked through the plan as a whole. 

The following year, we updated a few sections and submitted it again, it was recommended that we were close to receiving the Cynnig Cymreag. Again with the assistance of the Commissioner's Hybu team, we updated the plan, and submitted a new version for approval. 

Why is it important that you have received Cynnig Cymraeg? 

For SPAN it's a clear and public statement of our commitment to the Welsh language. It's easy to say you are supportive and offer Welsh language services but receiving the Cynnig Cymraeg is tangible, and shows we are doing what we say.  

What are the benefits of receiving the Cynnig Cymraeg? 

The support offered as part of the process helped us reflect on our practice and further strengthen our work.  

It is also a useful quality mark for our work with partners and funders to show our level of commitment.  

What are the benefits of offering a Welsh language service to your service users? 

Our community has the opportunity to engage in arts and culture in their language of choice. Working bilingually and with Welsh-speaking artists opens up new ideas and creative collaborations for our audiences, participants, and community to engage with.  

Has the Cynnig Cymraeg made a difference to your work? 

It has helped us make public our commitment to the Welsh Language.  

Would you encourage others to work towards the Cynnig Cymraeg, and why? 

Absolutely, the support and advice offered along with the confidence it gives you in receiving it have been a great help to our work.  

Do you have any advice for any organisations that are considering working towards the Cynnig Cymraeg? 

Go into it with a willingness to learn, the process is about understanding where you can improve and celebrating the steps you have taken. Try not to think of it as a stand-alone thing, it touches every part of our work from our recruitment and promotion to our programming and board make up, and each element is stronger because of it.