“it is vital to support the MAP initiative to build a world leading   creative centre for art, digital technology and sciences for Wales.”

MAP VISION

“bringing economic improvement, job opportunities, innovation and future prospects to the Capital Region”

MAMHILAD ARTS PROJECT

MAP is a body of artists, designers and educators with affiliates now numbering over three hundred around the world, which aims to create a groundbreaking high-tech arts and science facility, networking the region to the rest of Wales, the UK and internationally, bringing economic improvement, job opportunities, innovation and future prospects to the Capital Region.

“Creativity is a core strength of the UK which gives us an edge as a nation. Celebrated around the world, UK music, television, film, games, fashion, publishing, theatre, art, design, advertising, crafts and architecture is the bi-product of a long history of culture and counter culture. Modern Britain is an open, multi-cultural society, a rich talent pool where ideas stream from diverse free-thinkers collaborating to create innovative new products and services. However, we are only as good as our last creative idea. If we want to be a nation of innovators we need to be constantly creative. To become creative, innovative and imaginative, we need to expose ourselves to new ideas. A vibrant arts and culture community is the easiest way to make this happen. We have to stop thinking about arts and culture as simply nice to have. They are just as important as well-maintained roads and bridges. Arts and culture are infrastructure for the mind which promote creative endeavour. Hence it is vital to support the MAP initiative to build a world-leading creative centre for art, digital technology and sciences for Wales.”   
(Ian Livingstone CBE, author and entrepreneur, co-founder of Games Workshop)

LOCATION

Listed as an underdeveloped employment site in South East Wales Economic Forum’s (SEWEF) Land Assessment Report 2011, the Mamhilad Park Estate is home to the Grade 2* listed former British Nylon Spinners factory (1948), designed by Sir Percy Thomas. MAP wishes to transform this iconic modernist building into a showcase facility and digital hub: a home for the fusion of arts, science and technology placing the Capital Region and Wales on the worldwide stage by promoting cutting edge computer technology, art, Welsh culture and innovation. The site is already well placed as an opportunity generator with ideal road and rail links to the airport cities of Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham and London to connect and power Welsh ambition and ability, and bring it to a global audience.

GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY

By encouraging enterprise, MAP will help to reverse the downward spiral in active business enterprises since 2008 and address the anti-poverty and regeneration goals of the Torfaen County Borough Council and Welsh Assembly Government. MAP will create a museum, galleries, theatre complex and a creative hub of entrepreneurial arts and science businesses that would link to existing Welsh and international institutions and alumni, virtual and real. This worldwide draw for creative and arts industries, and inward investment, will regenerate Torfaen, engage the local community, provide skills, training and life-long learning, bringing wealth, tourism and support to the Capital Region’s economic goals and creative aspirations.

VALUE FOR WALES

MAP wants to save and repurpose the whole of this imposing building for the people of Wales. It is the largest of its kind in the nation, and celebrates the country’s postwar socialist utopian optimism. Thousands remember it as a good employer with a vibrant social scene at the sports and leisure facilities built for the employees. MAP feels any surrounding development should be built in sympathy with, and in an architectural style complementary to the genre of the factory, echoing the optimism of the original building. MAP proposes an opportunity to build a twenty first century, forward thinking society, providing employment and drawing people to live there by using designs that embrace sustainability, with the goal of being a test-bed showcase of innovation and new technology for Wales. MAP wishes to look to Europe for funding and the international community for sponsorship, expecting this project to find cross party appeal at Cardiff, Westminster and Brussels with its exciting job opportunities and future prospects of wealth creation for the region.