Calling all unsigned singer/songwriters...there's a main stage spot up for grabs for the winner of the 2009 Pontardawe Festival Singer/Songwriter Competition.

Entry forms are available now from the Festival Office or you can download the entry form here.

It costs £5 to enter and we will need a sample of your work on CD, MP3 or via a weblink (YouTube, MySpace, website etc.).

Successful applicants will be invited to take part in heats in the week beginning May 25th.

Eight finalists will be chosen to take part in the Grand Final at Pontardawe Arts Centre on Friday June 12th.

The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges who will make their decision based on lyrical and musical content, performance and presentation. There will also be an audience vote and this will be added to those of the judges.

The famous Ponty torchlit parade is to return this year, after a break of almost ten years.

It means there will be two parades to enjoy at this year's festival.

The torchlights return on Friday night - August 21 - starting at 9.15pm from the Pontardawe Arts Centre and finishing there around 10pm.

Then on Saturday afternoon, starting at 1.30pm, the traditional festival carnival parade will wind its way from the Ivy Bush Hotel, down High Street and Herbert Street. It will then turn round, come back up Herbert Street and go on to the festival field via the canal path and the retail park.

And because it's going to be so warm and dry, we've decided to maintain the tradition of the last three years - so the theme of this year's parade will be...water! Yes, we'll be singin' in the rain whatever the weather!

Fancy taking part? Contact Arts Centre Manager Angie Dickinson (01792.863722), Parade Organiser Jo Bailey (07790.580619) or email via the Feedback box on this website to get your organisation involved.

Application forms for traders wishing to take space in the Craft Market and the Food Village are now available to download

Please click on the relevant link in the INFORMATION box in the top left hand corner of the home page.

We look forward to welcoming you to Pontardawe in August.

Missing the Mari Lwyd? Suffering Wassail withdrawal? Or new to Welsh traditions and want to give them a try?

Trac is offering two one-day workshops for singers (of all abilities) to learn Welsh May Carols and their May Day traditions.
28 February: Arad Goch Centre, Bath Street, Aberystwyth - held in partnership with Cwmni Arad Goch celebrating their 20th Anniversary
4 April: St Fagan' National History Museum, Cardiff - held as part of the National Museum's focus on Music throughout 2009

May Day and May Day Eve were traditionally the 'second' season for wassailing around the parish, and came complete with their own repertoire of purpose-built songs and dances. With the dance tradition being revived - notably in Mold's Cadi Ha celebration -Trac turns its sights on the accompanying songs.

There's a glittering array of talent waiting in the wings at this year's Pontardawe Festival

Yes, friends, the news is out:
BUSINESS AS USUAL AT PONTY – STAR NAMES IN ’09 LINE-UP 20-23 AUGUST 2009

The iconic Welsh band
MAN
lead the way, opening the festival a day earlier than usual on Thursday August 20, supported by two emerging local rock bands
BAMBI KILLERS and THE LAST REPUBLIC

Other Welsh stars on show over festival weekend include
MARTYN JOSEPH
CALAN
DELYTH JENKINS

Also lined up to appear are Scotland’s
RORY McLEOD
ex-Fairport Convention
ASHLEY HUTCHINGS/RAINBOW CHASERS and
VIN GARBUTT from Teeside and
West Country singer/songwriter AMY NEWTON

The international flavour comes from ZIMBABWE courtesy of the acclaimed mambo band
HARARE
Americans DULCI and
reggae maestros
EDWARD II

Tickets will go on sale shortly. So watch this space for news of some great Early Bird offers.

Pontardawe Festival is delighted to announce that Jim Fox has been appointed as the festival's new Artistic Director.

Jim has been a regular at the festival for many years, both as a performer and as an MC. Now he will bring his immense experience to bear backstage as well as on it.

Jim takes over from Ruth Exell Stevenson who announced her retirement at the end of this year's festival after 30 years as a member of the committee, mostof them as AD. Ruth was one of the founder members of the festival back in 1978. She is the last of the 'originals' and will be sorely missed.

A quick note to everyone to thank you for the nice things you've said over the past few weeks. Here's a small selection:

"Thanks for another great festival and to all the many folk that made it possible! Despite the rain and mud and subsequent reduction in stalls it was great, the music was brilliant!

Just wanted to say thanks for a well-organised weekend...Brilliant music, good quality food and cheap beer! Can't be bad."

Pontardawe has won backing for a wide-ranging new programme that could provide you with a qualification linked to one of several festival-related activities.

Cardiff-based Arts & Business Cymru, in association with our mainstage sponsor Fujitsu UK, are helping to fund a series of educational courses that will provide skills that could lead to jobs in the entertainment and other industries.

Details of the subjects and courses available are listed below. So if you are interested, please contact us via the Feedback section of this website or via the Festival Office on 01792 830200.

Oh, and by the way, it's all completely free!

We are delighted to be able to announce that we have been officially recognised as Wales' first Fair Trade music festival.

It’s the latest step in a five-year plan to make Pontardawe a completely sustainable event. Our former Site/Technical Director, Emyr Morris, has been appointed Fair Trade Co-ordinator to oversee the incorporation of Fair Trade principles into every aspect of the festival’s activity.

It means we will be looking to use only Fair Trade products wherever we can, not only in what we do but also encouraging our suppliers, such as food traders, to do likewise.

We are also looking to introduce a dedicated Fair Trade area this year, in which only companies and organisations selling Fair Trade products will be present. There will also be special Fair Trade workshops and demonstrations.

Iconic Welsh supergroup Ar Log played the first ever Pontardawe Festival - and now they're to return for our 30th. birthday celebrations.

The band's 1978 gig was one of their first, and it led to the record deal that propelled them to the top of the Welsh music scene.