Fair Saturday landed in Cardiff on Saturday, 30 November with more than 25 events happening across the city to celebrate the power of the arts, culture and heritage.
Fair Saturday, the day after Black Friday, is a global cultural movement with the aim of creating a more just society.
The first Fair Saturday Cardiff was officially opened by Council Leader, Councillor Huw Thomas on the steps of St David’s Hall.
Councillor Thomas, said: “Fair Saturday is about putting culture and public good back into the heart of our community. It is about putting community over consumerism, empathy over greed, it is about working together against materialism. It is fantastic that this is happening here in Cardiff.
“I really hope today is a success because culture means so much to us here in Cardiff. We have so many wonderful cultural organisations which deserve to be celebrated.”
“Fair Saturday is about putting culture and public good at the heart of our communities...it’s about community over consumerism”- Cllr @huwthomas_Wales welcomes everyone to Cardiff’s first @FairSaturday / Arweinydd y Cyngor yn croesawu pawb i Ddydd Sadwrn Teg cyntaf Caerdydd pic.twitter.com/vSJU9geWDB
— CaerdyddCreadigol | CreativeCardiff (@CreativeCardiff) November 30, 2019
This was followed by The Big Sing featuring local choirs and music from Taff Vale Brass band in support of Welsh Women’s Aid and Bawso.
Across the city, events ranged from the Etsy Made Local Cardiff Christmas Market at City Hall to the Oh So Festive Market at Chapter and Music in Roath Market. There was something for everyone.
At the Grangetown Hub, Creative Cardiff partnered on a biodiversity workshop for the Grange Pavillion with Welsh School of Architecture, Community Gateway and the Grange Pavilion Project.
Happy #SundayFunday everyone! We had an amazing time @GrangetownHub yesterday brainstorming how the garden and @Grange_Pavilion can be more #ecofriendly and #biodiverse Thank you so much to all the Masters students from @WSofArchi and volunteers who came along☺️ pic.twitter.com/Dx2b33AiKr
— Community Gateway (@CommunityGtwy) December 1, 2019
The event was led by Lynne Thomas, Community Gateway project lead and Marie Davidova, a lecturer from the Welsh School of Architecture. Attended by Master's students from the Synergetic Landscapes course, they shared their ideas for the 2019 redesign of Grange Gardens. They brainstormed ideas to make Grange Pavilion and the gardens eco-friendly, sustainable and biodiverse – encouraging a circular ecosystem that would benefit wildlife, nature and the community at large.
Marie Davidova said of the opportunity to co-design the gardens and giving everyone a voice in the process: "We are designing interventions that should support cross-species co-living within the Grange Gardens, humans included. Co-design is still a fresh approach to designing when there is no ‘master’ designer introducing the ‘final’ design. Instead, all related stakeholders (the various community social groups, ngos, etc) are invited to co-create the changes within the environment."
Vicki Sutton, Creative Cardiff Project Manager, said: "We’re pleased to have been a part of Cardiff’s first Fair Saturday – a global movement that spreads positivity. The transforming of the Grange Pavilion and gardens into a new social hub for the community is an exciting and important project. We can’t wait to see the results."
The Grange Pavilion project is raising money in order to launch a facility in Grange Gardens. If you would like to donate click here.
The Lord Mayor’s Rave in The Old Library marked the end of Cardiff’s first Fair Saturday at midnight, with dancing, music and celebration.
Check out more of the Fair Saturday activity by following #FairSaturday on Twitter.
