08/08/2008 04:00:00
It has been announced that the 2010 National Eisteddfod - a popular Welsh festival - will be hosted by Blaenau Gwent, south Wales.
The annual cultural festival will be held at The Works: Ebbw Vale - a former steelworks site. An Eisteddfod field will be created in the heart of a £300 million redevelopment project specially for the festival. The 185-acre former steelworks site is set to be redeveloped as an area for future housing, education, arts, leisure, business and transport facilities.
Ebbw Vale, which last hosted the event fifty years ago, was announced as the 2010 destination at this year's Eisteddfod in Cardiff.
According to the BBC, Des Hillman, leader of Blaenau Gwent council, said the event would be a chance to "present a new Blaenau Gwent to audiences across Wales." And there are hopes that the festival will help to raise the profile of the area.
The folk festival was first celebrated in 1176, when Lord Rhys held a grand gathering at his castle in Cardigan and invited a number of poets and musicians. The National Eisteddfod association was formed in 1880 and charged with the responsibility of staging the festival annually in south and north Wales alternately.
The Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Lieghton Andrews, also said that he thought the festival would revitalize the area, adding:
"The Eisteddfod is one of Europe's largest and oldest cultural events and hosting it in the heads of the valleys provides us with a great platform to show what the region has to offer and help change perceptions."
A review of Welsh tourism earlier this year suggested that Wales could boost its tourist industry by maximising cultural icons.