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Oriel Dafydd Hardy

A high percentage of young people study the arts in the area, yet, on returning home after graduation, they find themselves isolated then after a few months end up working in local call centres or bars. Inevitably these graduates drift away, often returning to the University Cities where they studied, and where there are opportunities for exhibition and interaction with fellow artists. As a result of losing their energy and creativity Caernarfon continues to decline, apathy grows and the town becomes desecrated by cheap, unsympathetic building developments.

In 2005 a local estate agent Dafydd Hardy, along with his co-director Richard Thomas, decided to turn the basement of their offices on the castle square into an arts space to showcase for young artists, to counteract the drain of young art graduates from the area by providing a focal point -with Welsh as its first language- for exhibition and exchange of ideas

Opening in March 2006 Oriel Dafydd Hardy has sustained a stimulating and innovative programme of exhibitions and events without receipt of grants from art funding bodies. The company covers all overheads, printing, postage costs and hospitality, provides discretionary financial support for certain travel and artists’ materials, alongside professional guidance and takes no commission on sales!

Oriel Dafydd Hardy has already identified the need to provide opportunities for local young people to have their own experimental gallery space. It has also proved how the whole community appreciates and benefits from having this facility in the centre of the town.