Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council Arts & Cultural Service is delighted to announce that Clare Potter (artist name clare e. potter) has been appointed as the next Artist in Service until June 2026. Following the success of Artists in Service Harriet Fleuriot and Rhys Slade-Jones, this new phase builds on their learning and continues to champion open-ended, community-rooted artistic engagement.
The Artist in Service programme is designed to explore how artists can meaningfully engage with the people and places of Rhondda Cynon Taf. Developed in consultation with The Experience Business as part of the Designing Public Value with Purpose programme, it provides an opportunity for a local artist to evolve their creative practice through conversation and collaboration with communities across the area.
Rather than commissioning an artist to create work in isolation and then bring the community in, the programme asks the artist to start in the community and grow their ideas from there, so that the community is not just the audience for the artwork, but the subject and co-author. This is done through workshops, conversations, group meetings or events held by third sector organisations and speaking to experts to grow their art . Clare has begun engaging with a wide list of community groups and attending many of their art events, having thought provoking discussions with members of the community and other artists alike.
Unlike traditional residencies or commissions, there is no expectation of a final product or a series of workshops. Instead, the focus is on curiosity, connection, and mutual exchange — valuing the process for the artist and the community, as much as any potential outcome.
Clare has a passion for poetry and is a trainee poetry therapy practitioner. She facilitates creative wellbeing workshops, motivated by the belief that poetry can be a force for personal and social change. She presents radio including ‘Max Boyce, The Tools are on the Bar,’ and ‘The Poet’s Poet’ which was nominated for a Celtic Media Award; she directed a BBC Wales documentary, ‘The Wall and the Mirror’, about her village barber, which encouraged community action to save the local miners institute in Cefn Fforest.
Clare collaborates with community groups to make site-specific work. She won the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry and translated for the National Poet of Wales. She was a Hay Festival Writer at Work and is this year’s Royal Society of Literature/Jerwood Poetry Award winner for Cymru. Her current Cymraeg poetry pamphlet ‘Nôl Iaith’ follows her collection Healing the Pack. She was an ambassador for the Welsh language at Llif a European languages retreat with focus on ecology, climate emergency and culture.
Clare said: “I’m very humbled to be appointed as Artist in Service for Rhondda Cynon Taff. I feel a great deal of affection for where I live and am looking forward to deepening my knowledge and appreciation for our county. We’re incredibly lucky in RCT to have an abundance of talented artists and community groups who are making it a better place to live and thrive in. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to work alongside these artists, to meet more people, and explore the beautiful landscape. To be in service to creativity born of this area.”
Councillor Scott Emanuel, Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “We’re delighted to have Clare join us as the next Artist in Service for Rhondda Cynon Taf. Whilst this is only the second iteration of the role, the programme has already garnered significant interest . We know that across the sector our relationship with artists needs to change, and we are proud to have the support of our communities, peers from across the local authority and elected members to explore how that might look. Clare has already impressed with her passion for the culture, people, places, and languages of Rhondda Cynon Taf. I am excited to see how her innate curiosity challenges and inspires us!”
