Championing Working-Class Voices in the Creative Sector
Mathew David with project partner Rick Yale
Mathew David is a creative entrepreneur and storyteller whose work is reshaping the landscape for working-class creatives in Wales. With over a decade of experience across acting, casting, producing, writing, and directing, Mathew has built a career rooted in inclusion and representation, determined to create new opportunities in an industry that often overlooks voices like his.
His current project, supported by Media Cymru’s Seed Fund, is a powerful step in that mission. Working in collaboration with fellow creative Rick Yale, Mathew is researching and addressing the systemic barriers faced by working-class talent within the Welsh creative industries, particularly in film, TV, and visual storytelling. Their work is shedding light on the lack of access to networks, the prevalence of unpaid opportunities, and the challenges of sustaining a creative career while juggling multiple jobs and financial pressure.
This project is not Mathew and Rick’s first collaboration—they previously worked together on the immersive audio experience Coven Xperience alongside Tom Mumford and Shane Nickels. While that was a separate venture, their partnership has continued through this new work, which is focused on empowering others and sparking change from within the sector.
Mathew’s career began in LGBT+ advocacy, where he used creative platforms to highlight community issues. Over time, he recognised how his working-class background posed additional obstacles in navigating the media industry. This personal insight has become central to his current work, which aims not only to spotlight these issues but also to find innovative ways of overcoming them.
The impact of the project is already clear. A survey launched to gather insight from other creatives received a remarkable 285 responses, far exceeding the original target of 20 to 30. According to PDR, who collaborated on the research, this is the highest engagement they’ve seen for a Media Cymru innovation pipeline survey. The volume of responses confirmed the urgency of the issue and demonstrated just how many creatives across Wales are hungry for change.
Mathew’s most notable success to date remains his short film Skinny Fat, which he wrote, directed, and starred in. The film was broadcast across three BBC channels, aired on Channel 4, and amassed over 800,000 views online. For Mathew, the project represented the culmination of his skills and the power of telling authentic, lived stories. It also affirmed the value of creating work on your own terms, especially when traditional routes are closed off.
Through his ongoing work, Mathew is pushing for structural change—calling for more investment in local talent, better recognition of regional and financial inequalities, and greater visibility for the stories that are too often left untold. His aim is not just to open doors, but to build new ones, so that working-class creatives at all levels have the platform and support they deserve.
With creativity, determination, and collaboration at the heart of everything he does, Mathew David is helping shape a more inclusive and vibrant future for Welsh media.
