AmeriCymru: You’re hosting an interactive, online Christmas Party from Snowdonia, what’s that going to be like? 

Sera: Above all else it's going to be fun. Fun for us and for people watching. It's unscripted and it's live, and it's a completely new venture for us - so it's also going to be a little scary (for us!) But the whole point is to try something new and see what happens. It will mostly be about music; lots of live music, videos, spoken word and chat. And one of the most important elements is that we want people at home to get involved by interacting via the live chat on the channel - people can comment, ask questions and send in content. It's also going to be bilingual, so music in Welsh and English and interviews with guests. As far as what we'd compare it to, then it's the Jools Holland show meets Wayne's World! On a budget.

AmeriCymru: Can you tell us about any of the performers yet?

Sera: We've announced Eve Goodman (acoustic/folk) The Stash (indie band) and Martin Daws (spoken word) so far, via these videos, which were a lot of fun to make:

Eve Goodman  

Martin Daws

The Stash [Censored Vesion]

The performers will all be North Wales based and from different genres. We'll be revealing some more acts over the next few days in the run up to the show on Wednesday! It will be presented by me (Sera) Llyr Jones (from band Pasta Hull) and Anna Lloyd (on the live chat on youtube)We're all performers too, but will probably stick to presenting on the night!

AmeriCymru: Have you done this event before and will you be continuing it or something like it in the future?

Sera: This is a real first for all of us who are involved! It's very scary going 'live' when you're trying a new idea. We have another one scheduled for February, so we hope to build from the first one and see what works and doesn't work and welcome people wanting to get involved. We were fortunate to receive financial help from from Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig and CEG for this pilot and to get the idea off the ground. We really want to keep it going but will need help in doing so. We need people to watch and support us in the venture. It's so important to us to share the local arts scene here with the rest of the world. It's such a special place here in Snowdonia and there is a thriving creative scene. This is the wonder of technology and a way in which it can be used to connect communities. 

AmeriCymru: What is CEG records and the Astralship?

Sera: CEG Records is the label arm of 'CEG' which is a non-profit we started up a few years ago - CEG, which is Welsh for 'mouth' is an abbreviation of 'Cerddoriaeth Eryri a'r Gogledd ' (The music of Snowdonia and North Wales)  - the aim was to represent and to find and create avenues for local music, by doing things like hosting stages as events and festivals to running community projects. You can have a look at the CEG Records roster here: http://www.cegrecords.com/ The Astralship  is a collective of artists and engineers that are developing models for new kinds of community and innovation hubs in arts and technology. So CEG and Atralship working together on this project made a lot of sense. We're trialing something new and exciting here. 

AmeriCymru: Where can people find out more about you, the event, and the artists and other people involved in making it happen?

Sera:

The Facebook event page:  https://www.facebook.com/events/580563315818670/?active_tab=discussion

Website:  https://www.cegrecords.com/ceg-tv

And most importantly where you can watch CEG TV: https://www.youtube.com/c/astralship