photo: Raymond Williams Society
Western Mail and Echo copyright.
Celebrating 100 Years
To mark the Centenary of Williams’ birth(31 Aug 1921) the Raymond Williams Foundation is proud to support a special programme of activities with the aim of reintroducing some of Williams’ key ideas to contemporary publics.
Through the development of a set of new, freely accessible, resources and by supporting collective dialogue about the contemporary relevance of Williams’ work the Centenary programme aims to foster a renewed public understanding of the ‘long revolution’ today.
The Raymond Williams Foundation supports what Williams termed the ‘Long Revolution’ towards ‘an educated and participating democracy’ through its involvement in adult education and collective community-based learning.
'Culture is Ordinary' Project
The 'Culture is Ordinary' project initially emerged from discussions with Welsh colleagues about how to mark the 2021 centenary of the birth of Raymond Williams. Financed by the Raymond Williams Foundation and Arts Council Wales, the first outcome of this project is a 17 minute film.
Culture is Ordinary - film
Videos
This 17 minute film focuses on ways that culture is interpreted and practiced by groups of young people in contemporary Wales. Directed by Colin Thomas and created by Cardiff-based artist Tom Goddard with new music by Cardiff musician Kiddus Murrell, currently working at Tŷ Cerdd, the film is available here in English and Welsh
Film premiere and panel discussion event at the Wales Millenium Centre
Audio
'Culture is Ordinary' was premiered as part of the Festival of Voice on 7 November 2021 at the Wales Millenium Centre. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with representatives of the youth groups featured in the film, including Yusuf Ismail from Unify; mixed media artist Amber Forde; Kiara Sullivan from Valleys Kids; and Nirushan Sudarsan from Butetown Matters. The discussion was chaired by Lleucu Siencyn, Chief Executive Officer of Literature Wales and was followed by a Q & A involving members of the audience. A recording of this panel discussion and Q & A is available here.
Raymond Williams Centenary ‘explainers’
Produced in a variety of formats the ‘explainers’ are a new, freely accessible, set of resources that introduce a variety of key concepts from Raymond Williams’ work to contemporary publics.
The explainers have been created by a range of people, from Wales, England, USA, Canada and Argentina, who share an interest in Raymond Williams and who responded to an open call for an RWF grant to take this work on. Working against the backdrop of Williams’ Centenary, the aim of the new explainers is to help renew interest in Williams’ work and promote and renew public discussion about its contemporary relevance.
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Consider the Sheep
Question what seems Natural
When Raymond Williams looked at sheep, he saw whole complicated
histories, human and other-than-human, intertwined together, for
better and for worse. He found himself wondering about these histories: why were the sheep there? Where did they come from? Who brought them there, who kept them there, and who—or what?—was there before? In doing this, he was following a key principle of Marxist philosophy —something we can all do: question what seems natural.
Josie Sparrow
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Raymond Williams - The Hand and the Map
Animated video
A short animated video explainer introducing Raymond Williams' views on community, communications, technology, education & culture. Plus a complimentary accompanying PDF document with references and additional remarks.
There is a Welsh version here https://youtu.be/RmfcpbQFJF0
Ted Parry, Tad Davies, Garmon Thomas
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Raymond Williams in Latin America
A graphic essay
A video-podcast by TyPA Foundation, based in Argentina, that explores how Raymond Williams’ ideas circulated throughout Latin America, how they found meaning in contexts very different from the one in which they were originated, and how they continue to be central today when thinking about the potential of cultural spaces and cultural agents to transform the societies in which we live.
More information about TyPA Foundation: www.typa.org.ar/en
The Spanish version of the Explainer can be found here https://youtu.be/24MuXHPuPdA
Americo Castilla
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Visit the Centenary page for more...
“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing”
Raymond Williams
'What Raymond Williams means to me' series
This series of reflections captured on video and in writing, document recent interviews and exchanges with a variety of people who have been touched in different ways by Williams’ life and work. Produced as part of the Raymond Williams Foundation’s 2021 programme to mark Williams’ Centenary.
Terry Eagleton
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Personal Memoir
Celebrated for his creative writing as well as his theoretical and critical work, Professor Eagleton has kindly provided this heartfelt personal memoir as a contribution to the Raymond Williams centenary commemorations.
Professor Terry Eagleton is Distinguished Professor of English Literature within the Department of English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University. He obtained his PhD at Cambridge where he was a student of Raymond Williams, and went on to become the youngest Fellow of Jesus College since the eighteenth century, before moving to Wadham College, Oxford in 1968.
The Williams Family
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Interview PARTS 1-9
In this interview with Dr Sharon Clancy, the Williams Family share memories of their father Raymond Williams and their mother Joy, covering a range of subjects including, class, war, education, religion, Marx and the Lady Chatterley Trial.
This interview has been split into 9 parts for quick and easy access to specific areas of interest. Click the links below to access the different parts.
PART 1 - On their father Raymond Williams and their mother Joy click to watch
PART 2 - On his views on Marx click to watch
PART 3 - Lady Chatterly Trial and being a Fellow click to watch
PART 4 - Language skills & foreign students click to watch
PART 5 - War, Wales, education and religion click to watch
PART 6 - Their mother's family, the Korean war click to watch
PART 7 - His novels and his writings click to watch
PART 8 - Politics, Adult education, Miner's strike click to watch
PART 9 - Views on class click to watch
The Williams Family are Merryn, Ederyn and Madawc. (Ross - Merryn's daughter is there for information)
Dr Derek Tatton
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Interview
Derek was an undergraduate at Cambridge and for part of his time there Raymond Williams was his tutor.
Dr Sharon Clancy is the interviewer.
Visit the Centenary page for more...
“There are in fact no masses, but only ways of seeing people as masses.”
Raymond Williams
Raymond Williams: From Wales to the World
RWF Trustee Stephen Woodhams' new book has been published by Parthian Press. It is Book Council Wales 'Book of the Month Aug/Sept 2021
Recording now available of
A Celebration Of the Life and Work of Raymond Williams on his centenary
an RWF production
This online event was held on 31 Aug 2021, the Centenary of Raymond's birth.
Upcoming events
Hywel Francis Memorial Conference
14th February 2022 10.00am - 12.00pm
This memorial conference presents an opportunity to celebrate the work of Hywel Francis along with his commitment and contribution to the value of lifelong learning in maintaining community resilience, social solidarity and cultural identity.
The meeting will take place online, using Zoom.
The event will be recorded and can be made available, on request, to those who can't attend
A READING OF RAYMOND WILLIAMS SHORT STORY - "PARRY R " by Russell Todd
‘Parry, R.’ is a short story written by Raymond Willians when he was still in his teens, circa 1939. It remained unpublished until 2007 when Parthian Books in Aberteifi published it as part of the Library Of Wales series in an anthology of writing about Sport entitled simply Sport (ed. Gareth Williams; no. 11 in the series). It combines two of Russell’s passions: Raymond Williams and grassroots Welsh football, albeit a fictional team Brynarw FC who play in the North Monmouthshire League and get changed for their matches in a back room of The Half Moon pub.
It's about 12 minutes long