A Brief History of TASC
As part of the Mid Wales May Festival workshop, concerts and local sessions took place throughout the year. It was simpler to separate these off from
the festival itself, so a new organisation was set up in 1994 as a registered charity.
The end of the festival in 1998 took place at the same time that TASC's administrator was exploring the idea of a development organisation for folk music in Wales. The two main threads were the conversations with Alistair Anderson, creator of Folkworks, who made his second appearance at the festival in 1994, and discussions with Ceri Rhys Matthews in 1996 which led to the first Welsh Fiddle Convention in 1997. TRAC (later TRAC-Cymru) was set up in 1997.
Without the support of the festival TASC languished for a few years until in 2002 a review of the position took place called Groundwork. The conclusion was that small-scale events, with funding support if possible, should take place in Llandinam, creating a hot bed that might yield results.
In 2004 Powys County Council agreed to fund the development programme on a modest basis, and additional funds were found from other sources on a project by project basis. The council continued to support the TASC for the next twelve years until the impact of the cuts began to be felt.
The main achievements over that period have been:
- Llandinam Village Band
- Tunes People Play
- Suitcase Studio
- Twelfth Night
- Llandinam Folk Club
- Lost, Missing & Stolen
- Taste CD
- Seed Weekends
- Severn Suite
- Folk Powys
- Making Your Workshops Work
- Montgomery School Folk Dance Project
- Telling Tales
below: where it all began, Mid Wales May Festival in Newtown