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Oriel Davies has been through a period of significant transformation. As a result, Oriel Davies has strengthened as an organisation whose activities inside and outside the gallery are now integral to the social and cultural life of Newtown.

Celf is the National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales. In September work will finally begin on the project and phase 1 will be completed by early spring next year.

The building will close in mid September but the gallery will continue to operate at other venues in the community. We are planning to re-open in Spring 2025.

Celf phase 1 is funded by Welsh Government and will see us partnering with the National Museum, National Library and eight other galleries to bring the contemporary collection to our community over the coming years. We’ll continue to work primarily with contemporary artists.

This is a new phase for the gallery and taps into the heritage of our region and explores the impact the Davies Family have had on our local, national and international cultural heritage.

It will build on ideas explored in the 2006 exhibition Radical Visions, and bring examples of the Davies Collection back to Powys from the National Museum and National Library.

But the legacy of the Davies family extends far beyond the world of fine art. From music to fine printing, from education to international politics, from the fight against tuberculosis to the Girl Guide movement, the Davies sisters and their brother David, 1st Baron Davies of Llandinam, put their time, money and energy into enriching the lives of the people of Wales.

The work being carried out in phase 1 will include increased security and climate control in our gallery spaces.

We’re just beginning to fundraise for phase 2 which we hope to start in 2025. Phase 2 will see physical improvements within and around the gallery. We want to make our space even more accessible, develop civic spaces, improve our retail and welcome space, learning studio, improve the toilet facilities and make it possible to open up different zones of the building at different times.

A major part of this phase will be to increase the number of loans so that we can bring the Davies sisters’ collection back to the area, and tell their story and the impact they have had.