LocalMotion Carmarthen
Creating the happiest and most prosperous town in Wales.
This market town sits on the banks of the river Tywi and is a critical economic and cultural hub for West Wales. Our history is connected to resistance, mythology, language, the printed word, the farming landscape that surrounds us, and the oak as a symbol of longevity.
But how could we harness these qualities to speak truth to power? To understand that this is more than a rural market town, it’s a unique, bilingual and multi lingual, complex and Cymraeg context to be working within.
How can we create a people based movement that will work with the urgencies and complexities we find ourselves in? Addressing the realities of poverty, failing systems, climate collapse, racial, economic and social justice in Carmarthen. How can we work hyperlocally for change empowering new voices to become heard.
Our answer is a cultural one, that speaks to the wellbeing of future generations, calls for justice and is delivered by and through a cultural and collaborative practice. Culture is ordinary – as Raymond Williams stated, and it is through this lens that we are working for change. This work takes many forms, from our public walks programme, to research groups, collective feasts, a doughnut economics lab, a network of community gardens and our access and disability forum. An ecosystem of projects are emerging that reflect what is needed and who is missing, with culture at their heart.
To explore systems thinking approaches to place we use the analogy of the natural world. What if we worked for social justice through a permaculture model? Imaging our work within the arena of a garden, composting our learning and growing our resistance and imagination, cultivating projects for a just and ecologic future.
At the heart of our work in Carmarthen are these connective overlapping working groups. They are:
This group is composed of 13 local people who input into the larger framework and ideas of our local work. This is a diverse, multigenerational group which represents the town. Each member is remunerated for their time and they run their own projects and budgets. The only qualification to being part of the assembly is that you live, work and or study in Carmarthen. Places on the assembly are limited to two years, but we see this is a way of cultivating longer term relationships with members joining the wider ecosystem of projects through this group.
Our coordination group holds a strategic vision, supporting the team and wider role of the programme. Local people sit alongside projects and bodies like Carmarthen Pride, the Town Council and Friends of the Earth Cymru to create an active rooted group which embodies our values and themes. Our fiscal host is People Speak Up, a unique cultural organisation working with art and wellbeing to tell new stories of social change.
This network is always evolving, growing and adapting but is critically always open. We have been working with a systems thinking approach to place and partnership to look at how power and privilege are often present in ‘collaborative’ work. We are seeking to build new ways of non extractive collaboration which will enable long term approaches to leverage the radical vision we are seeking to create. Projects and programmes are developed in the round to create new pathways and ideas. A companion planting approach, grafting ideas and projects together to work for change.
We are trialing a programme to create a youth assembly alongside our Local Assembly to see how we can create a truly multigenerational movement. Leading this work are DrMz our lead youth partner, alongside Carmarthen County Council, Yr Egin, and Menter Gorllewin Sîr Gar.
We want to explore what a more just society can look like. This means working intersectionality on projects, programs and training – this is our overarching guiding principle which explored allyship / anti racism.
Climate is a key issue in our work, it informs everything from our food systems, housing, to the wellbeing of future generations, culture, economy and the natural world, ensuring we are living within planetary boundaries.
What can we affect over 8 years that will affect the next 80 in Carmarthen? How can we create new resources that speak to the urgencies of places which connect specifically to the rural context of the town. How can the oldest town model a radical future?
This issue is critical to the work of LocalMotion, and creating spaces to bring this to the table will become increasingly important. We need to undertstand and act on the root causes, impact on those who live with disabilities.
Our young assembly project explores the impact that young voices can have as well as exploring multigenerational work for the future of Carmarthen. What is this generation of young people inheriting ?
Go to our microsite to get to know more about what we are doing and what’s on: