Little Wander and Creative Wales announce creative partnership for Machynlleth Comedy Festival 2023

Little Wander, the team behind Machynlleth Comedy Festival and Aberystwyth Comedy Festival, have announced a partnership with Creative Wales to create new opportunities for Welsh comedy talent at this year’s Machynlleth Comedy Festival.

Creative Wales is a Welsh Government economic development agency that promotes the growth of the creative industries across Wales, with a specific remit for the development of Film, TV, and Animation; Music and Comedy; Games, R&D and CreaTech and Publishing.

As part of the partnership, Creative Wales will be sponsoring Y Tabernacl – one of the Festival’s bigger venues which includes a brand new, specially curated show to showcase emerging Welsh Comedy talent ‘Creative Wales presents…New Welsh Voices’ taking place on Saturday 29th April, tickets are available for purchase now at machcomedyfest.co.uk.

Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean, this 75-minute showcase will feature the most exciting comedic talent emerging from across Wales today.

Alongside this event, Creative Wales is also providing additional support to the Festival in its efforts to enhance overall accessibility for people attending events. This is part of Little Wander’s remit to make comedy as accessible as possible for audiences. 

Added measures will include: 

•     A full accessibility audit of the website to identify gaps and make improvements, including better signposting accessibility features at the festival.
•     Offer a dedicated Access Information Point and a dedicated staff member during the Machynlleth Comedy Festival 2023.
•     Offer a relaxed space at the information point and introduce calmer social areas at Y Plas and Owain Glyndŵr.
•     Improve level access where feasible across various parts of the site – both at venues and across social spaces.
•     Offer a minimum of six shows with live open captioning (including one showcase).

Speaking about the agreement, Little Wander Director Henry Widdicombe said “We are delighted to be working with Creative Wales to develop opportunities in comedy for people in Wales today, and are grateful for the additional support provided that will enable us to ensure Machynlleth Comedy Festival is an accessible event for everyone to enjoy.”