An annual festival which has brought a community together for over 30 years is this year being sponsored by Cardiff University.
Grangetown Festival, which takes place on Saturday June 20th, attracts all ages for a giant party featuring music, a pop-up cinema, a parade, children’s activites and much else.
The popular event is being sponsored by the University’s Community Gateway project, which is supporting people in Grangetown to make their neighbourhood an even better place to live.
The sponsorship follows a consultation which highlighted that the festival provided one of the few opportunities to bring the communities of Grangetown together.
Community representatives wanted Community Gateway to help develop the event, build relationships and celebrate the best of Grangetown.
Community Gateway project lead Mhairi McVicar said: “It’s a great opportunity for us to support the local community, find out what people think about what we should be doing in Grangetown, build relationships and promote the exciting work of Community Gateway.
“Cardiff University is committed to building a long-term partnership with residents of Grangetown to make the area an even better place to live through world-class research, teaching and professional development opportunities.”
The festival, which is co-ordinated by residents’ group Grangetown Community Action, will kick off at 1pm in Grange Gardens and finish at 5pm. The pop-up cinema will continue the celebrations with the main feature film starting at 5pm.
A second residents’ group, Grange Pavilion Project, is opening up the former bowls pavilion and bowling green in Grange Gardens as part of the festival, to continue to explore new ways of using the facilities as a community space.
Resident Richard Powell, of Grange Pavilion Project, said the University, through moral and financial support, was helping the community to achieve local aspirations and come forward with proposals that are “believable and do-able”.
Academics from across the University are exploring ways of working in partnership with residents to develop world-class teaching and research to benefit Grangetown.
As well as offering residents the chance to build new relationships and spend time with neighbours, the festival will allow the University to get the word out about Community Gateway and what it has to offer.
Community Gateway is one of the University’s five flagship engagement projects, otherwise known as its Transforming Communities programme.
The University is working with Welsh Government and communities in Cardiff, Wales and beyond in areas including health, education and wellbeing.
This includes supporting Cardiff city-region, connecting communities through hyperlocal websites, building community engagement models and helping achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
Community Gateway, fellow flagship engagement project Stronger Communities Healthier People and members of the School of Psychology will all have stalls at the festival to promote opportunities for residents to partner with the University.
